Attachment issues
by Maxaro
Summary: If a starving man was given a buffet of food, what would he do? Would he eat and then merely leave content and fulfilled to continue his day? Or would he stay at the table, waiting for more food that he knows there's an abundance of, finally able to relish in the thing he's been missing for so long? What will Blake Belladonna do when someone cares about her for the first time? AU.
1. Forming an attachment

**Maxaro: I/we didn't plan on releasing this fic for awhile, we wanted to come to a certain point in Brotherly love and You're awesome first, but right now I really just feel like this** ** _should_** **be released. I only want to note one thing before the chapter itself starts; before you read this, please imagine me standing over you with a hammer in my right hand and a nail in my right. On said hammer the word "Point" is written and on said nail the words "Blake is love starved" are written. Imagine then that I'm putting the nail against your head and then that I begin to hammer away at it. Thank you in advance. Please enjoy the chapter.**

Blake Belladonna had not lived the most... prosperous life. She had never known her parents, she never made any real friends growing up at the Signal orphanage, the few foster homes she had lived in showed her anything but love and compassion, and at times she had been treated as nothing better than a slave by her caretakers. She knew why, though. She couldn't ignore it. She was a faunus, and the day faunus were treated like equals by humans again was the day the planet stopped orbiting the sun.

Not even once had she heard the words "I love you" directed at her, and she had come to terms with that they never would. She hated it, but she had no other choice than to accept it. Whenever she thought about how much it hurt, she would merely think about how fortunate she was in the end, in comparison to other faunus at least. There were few of her kind that could even claim they had the chance to obtain higher knowledge by going to college after all.

Even though the college she was attending was not exactly the most esteemed college by any means, it was a college. She was aware of the privilege she had gotten, and how hard she had worked to get where she was. And she did work hard. She had to, about ten times harder than "normal" people in fact. But goddammit she had made it. She had secured a future of her own, no matter how rocky of a future that may be.

She had thought that college would be harder to adjust to, but, fortunately for her, she had a habit of overestimating things and being wrong. Everyone in college seemed to be a lot more chill, in truth ever since she had first got there not a single soul had mocked her for being what she was, and everyone was a lot more accepting of a lot of things. Especially their situations. At least in comparison to what she had had to deal with before. Even still she didn't talk to anyone, unless she had to.

She could blame that on her socially anxious mind. Though her dorm mate would perhaps be eternally grateful for her inability to speak.

Blake honestly had no qualms about sharing a dorm with someone else, she had learned long ago that privacy and space were privileges she, or most faunus for that matter, would never have. She considered living with just _one_ person a massive reward after having lived in the orphanage and been forced to share a room more fit for two with five other people.

 _'Just make sure you don't draw any attention to yourself or do something stupid and you'll be fine, Blake...'_ She thought to herself as she made her way closer and closer to where her assigned dorm room was located. She had been at the Beacon co-ed college for almost a week now, but it wasn't until today that she and the other students had been assigned rooms and roommates. _'So far no one has made fun of you, if you're lucky your roommate won't make fun of your either...'_

She stopped in front of her dorm room door and took a deep breath, preparing for whatever she found inside, before she opened it up and took a step in. The first thing she had noticed was that the room was quite a bit bigger than she had imagined. Shelves, a bed, a desk, and a dresser had been provided and she noted that the shelves had enough room to fit all the books she had brought with her and then some. The bed was twin sized, large enough maybe to fit two people if they squished together.

Her eyes were drawn to the other side of the room and to a blond mop of hair along with a forehead and a pair of cobalt eyes sprouting over a held up comic book on the bed. Her roommate. He looked to be a tall guy, wearing a grey hoodie perhaps two sizes too big for him with headphones on his head. His side of the room was just as clean as hers, aside from one or two pairs of earbuds, a laptop, and his phone lying haphazardly on his desk. At least, Blake thought, there would be no arguing if she kept to herself.

The boy looked up from his comic book to Blake and offered her a small and hesitant smile, before taking off his headphones and reaching in his pocket the headphone cords led into.

"Oh... oh, hi... you must be my roommate." His voice was unsure. Blake felt that they were going to get along sharing the room just fine.

"Hi..." she answered quietly, not moving from her spot in the doorway just yet. The boy wasn't looking at her ears yet, which she took as a good sign, but she wasn't going to try and interact with him further if she didn't need to. Slowly, she made her way over to her side of the room, gently placing down her smaller bag on her new bed. There wasn't much in it aside from her books and clothes, she would be supplied with a laptop from the school within the coming days, she knew, but other than that and her old phone which was in her pocket she didn't really own anything else.

The sound of something being laid down and the creaking from the springs in her roommate's bed caught Blake's attention and her body unintentionally tensed up. She knew he was standing behind her now, she could feel it, and despite being fine with sharing a room with the guy she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"So... the name's Jaune. Jaune Arc... I guess we'll be living together."

She developed a tight enclosed stance and became tight lipped. She lowered her head to the ground on instinct. It was always like this in conversation. She turned quickly to face him, and felt kind of happy that he was further away than he felt at first. He was extending a hand, but he looked just about the same as her. That is, he looked like he didn't at all want to talk to her, and would have preferred to be left alone to his own devices. But... still, Blake knew that if she didn't at least put some effort into becoming acquaintances, it was going to be rough sailing sharing a room.

"Blake Belladonna," she said meekly, shaking his offered hand and finding herself relishing in the human touch as much as hating it. It was, after all, a luxury she didn't get often, or at all really, but she was happy he merely shook her hand instead of crushing it like so many other would, and had, done. She turned back around after releasing his hand and slowly let out the breath she had been holding in when she heard the springs in his be shift once more.

They had no classes today, something Blake actually disliked. Or, more accurately, she disliked the reason for there being no classes. Now that everyone had gotten their dorms, the headmaster of the school apparently thought it would be a great idea to give the students a day off to get to know each other. Blake was here to learn, for she had learned long ago that her getting a friend that didn't want to hurt or use her in some way was never going to happen, so missing a whole day's worth of classes for something pointless made her annoyed. Had she been someone else she might even have gone to the headmaster to complain, but she would never dare do something like that. It could be considered disrespecting an authority figure, and Blake knew that was grounds for expulsion, especially for a faunus like her.

So, since neither she nor Jaune, thankfully, wanted to use this time to get to know one another, Blake settled for getting some reading done, or maybe begin unpacking later, and just hope tomorrow would give her more chances to learn.

She felt insecurity wash over her as she laid down on her bed. The bed was comfortable, but the atmosphere in the room was the opposite. The awkwardness of the previous exchange just then hit her, and she realized several things. One, she didn't trust her new roommate, two, she didn't know how her new roommate personally felt about faunus, and three, she didn't feel particularly safe with having a guy sleeping in the same room as her...

These were just things she was going to have to deal with it seemed. She spared a small glance back to him secretly; he was nodding his head to his music (some kind of rock music as Blake could hear with her extra sensitive hearing) and reading his comic book with a small smile on his face. He looked peaceful, and she realized he couldn't hurt a fly. Probably. Her third fear was eased at that realization.

Hopefully.

She knew how much abuse some faunus suffered, and she was beyond thankful to any and all gods watching over her that she had yet to be _touched_ in such a way. Sure, she had been beaten many times before coming to Beacon, and, sadly, that was to be expected, but she had never been _touched_. And she wished, hoped, prayed, and longed for that to remain the case.

She would remain careful, like she always was, but the aura of calmness Jaune seemingly gave off lessened her fear slightly.

She reached over to her bag and unzipped it, withdrawing the first book she found. Ninjas of love 2: A forbidden tale. Her favorite. She had read it what seemed like hundreds of times, but she still enjoyed reading it. It detailed the affair between two lovers from warring kingdoms and Blake couldn't help but draw parallels between the losing kingdom and the faunus.

Sadly, the thought of a human falling in love with a faunus was perhaps one of the most laughable things in the world. Though she did see a few human/faunus relationships here and there. It was always so jarring to see anyone that wasn't a faunus treating them in such an affectionate way. She thought back to just a week before where she saw someone who either wasn't, or was pretending not to be, a faunus, lean in and place the most loving kiss possible on the lips of one, and she had accepted so readily. It seemed that some of them were more forgiving than others.

She shook herself out of her introspection and reached inside the bag again, pulling out her other books. She could feel Jaune's eyes on her, but she didn't turn to meet them. He was probably just curious about her interests and wanted to see what she had brought for entertainment, but she still couldn't help the small bit of fear from bubbling inside of her. She hated feeling so helpless and scared. But it was what she felt most of the time anyway.

"Do... do you want any help unpacking?"

Jaune speaking to her once again felt almost jarring to Blake's ears, but not as jarring as just what he had said. He, a human, had just asked her, a faunus that he had never met before, if she wanted help. And he had done so without any form of malice or condescending tone in his voice. No one had ever asked her that before. Could it be that he hadn't seen her ears? That he thought she was just another human? Why else would he offer to help her?

"W-what...?" Blake whispered shakily, her voice certainly too quiet for a normal human to hear. She didn't dare turn towards him, she didn't want to see the surely cruel smirk on his lips or the disgust in his eyes when he realized she was a faunus.

"I'd be happy to help you unpack, if you want. Got nothing better to do anyways."

"Sure," she agreed quietly, just waiting for him to turn back on his suggestion. She wasn't really one to want the help, but she disliked turning people down. She disliked upsetting anyone. She disliked saying no to people. He heard him shuffle once again, and he appeared by her side and cleared his throat.

"So uh..." He reached over to help her unpack and she flinched at the motion, he seemed startled by this fact and a realization dawned on him it seemed from the way his face went from surprised to understanding. He started again, gently. "Hey, I just want to say, I know you must be very uncomfortable with having me as a roommate instead of another faunus, or, you know, another girl, but I'll generally keep to myself if that's what you want..."

Blake almost wanted to laugh. A dry, bitter, completely humorless laugh. Why should someone care what she wanted? It didn't matter. She was a faunus, her opinion and wants were pointless in the end. One of the most common ways she was taunted when she was younger was when people asked what she wanted and then laughed in her face when she tried to answer. And now Jaune was doing it to her again...

Right?

There was only sincerity in his voice, but he couldn't actually care about what she wanted, could he? He had no reason to, she was just a faunus, he was just good at acting, right? Good at removing all trace of anything other than honest care, right? He couldn't... _care_ , right...?

"Blake, if you don't me asking, you really like reading, right? This school has a massive library, and I can uh, show you around it if you want later. I know each and every section by now." His voice was full of hope, but the one thing she couldn't understand is why? Why is he being so nice to her? Did she luck out? Did she really get a nice, not at all racist guy as a roommate? There was no denying that he saw her ears now with what he said, so perhaps she had...

She would honestly rather stay in the dorm and read than let this stranger show her around the library but... his voice... she really needed to learn how to say no.

In the end, she nodded, feeling a lurching sensation erupt in her stomach at the prospect of having Jaune, an almost stranger to her, guide her to wherever he pleased. He said it was the library, but how could she be sure? He had no reason to actually take her there, after all, no reason to not guide her to some private corner to do unspeakable things to her, right?

Blake's eyes, previously locked on her books, turned to look at Jaune's face. Her breath caught in her throat. He was smiling at her, not darkly or teasingly. His smile held only honesty, only true compassion, something she had never before seen directed at her, and only "light". There was not even a hint of deceit within his cobalt eyes, no malicious intent. His hand was outstretched towards her, but Blake didn't even notice it, her eyes to focused in his own.

"I'm sure we can find you some secluded area where you can read in peace, if you want." His voice was soft, gentle even, and held none of the demeaning tone she was used to.

 _'He... he's serious... he doesn't have any ulterior motive... he actually cares what I want…?'_

"Yeah... Yeah that sounds nice." Still though, she wouldn't let down her guard. She couldn't. It had been up for far too long to just go down because some guy was being nice to her, even if he was the first that didn't have any form of ill intent projected into his actions. Jaune went back to pulling things out of her bag, in total she had brought ten of her favorite books and a few of her favorite outfits. She sold the rest, figuring she could use the extra cash for food and whatnot. "I didn't bring much," she said, hoping to keep up conversation, which came as a surprise to even herself just as much as it did to Jaune.

"Neither did I, just what I wanted to bring, or felt would be useful. You can see everything I have on my shelf." She turned, not being able to help herself. She was naturally curious, which he hated. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. He just had books and a few figurines she figured he painted himself. She didn't feel like she packed too light after seeing that.

She fought herself for a reply, but she could find none. She nodded and went back to unpacking, and feeling her hand brush against against a familiar shaped object, silently cursed, her eyes widening in horror.

She thought she had lost the small plastic egg and dial, thought it was long gone, but finding it in her bag with Jaune right next to her was not how she wanted to find it.

It had helped her through many heat-cycles, helped her gain some form of pleasure in her life, and, had circumstances been different, Blake would have been overjoyed to find the toy. She felt panic grip her heart, Jaune had shown her more care than she could even remember, but she didn't want him to discover something so dirty and embarrassing of hers. It would surely disgust him.

She quickly acted and pulled out the rest of her books, picking up her bag and sliding it under her bed. "Th-thanks... we can head out whenever you're ready." Jaune smiled at her and motioned for her to follow him. She sighed in relief, and followed after him quickly as he left the room. A stray thought that she might never be able to use that thing again now that she had a roommate. She was going to have an even rougher time in life…

XXX

Jaune had lead her, on his word, to the library. It was a large building, entirely independent of the school building. He pushed the door open and held it for her. "Ladies first!"

Blake would have once again questioned just why the hell he kept doing all these things for her, but her attention was completely captured by the enormous hall in front of her. The enormous hall filled with rows upon rows upon rows of packed bookshelves. Had she been able to tear her eyes from the heavenly garden of Eden before her, Blake would have seen Jaune smiling knowingly at her as she took a few small steps forward. She had never seen so many books in one place before, and she could read all of them if she wanted to. She wasn't restricted from entering this library, like she had been whenever she tried to go to one when she was younger, and she didn't even have to pay a lien to read any books here.

"I know a place here where you can be alone." Jaune said, but Blake didn't even hear him. She only vaguely noticed that he took her hand and began leading her towards the back of the utopian hall.

When she became fully aware at what was happening, the first thing she noticed was how his hand was holding hers. It was a firm hold, and his skin was soft. So unlike what she would have guessed. It honestly felt like he moisturized his skin. And maybe he did, he wasn't exactly so masculine now that she got a good look at him. His face was just too... androgynous. Not that that was a very bad thing. It fit him and his voice.

She was enjoying the feeling of her hand in his. She had never been taken by the hand before. Never in her life. It was nice, but oh so different from what was normal in her life.

"So the first stop is probably my favorite section: Fantasy! And to a slightly lesser extent science fiction," he stated loudly. Well, loud enough to be considered loud in a library.

Seeing Jaune smiling as he talked about what books he thought were the most enjoyable reads made Blake feel odd. Her chest felt warm, fluttering in a way, and she had never felt it before. Her hand still in his felt warm too, like she was bathing in the gentle glow of a fire. It felt... nice. She had never seen someone smile in such a way towards her, never felt someone hold her hand in a way that wasn't hurting her in some way, never had someone act so... _happy_ towards her.

She felt like she could trust Jaune. Even if parts of her knew it was far too early to make such a decision and that she still had no idea _why_ he acted like he did towards her, Blake couldn't help herself. It had been years since she last trusted someone, years since someone showed her that they were worthy of her trust, but Jaune acted like no one she had ever met before.

Perhaps, though it was way too early to say, Jaune could become something much mor- _'stop. You're getting ahead of yourself.'_ And that was true. She was. But again, she couldn't help herself. She had known this man for all of, what, the last half hour? _'Dear god Blake, are you that desperate for any form of affection?'_ Yes, she decided. She was desperate. And why shouldn't she be? She had lived her life without it. What was hoping that she and this boy became so close that a friendship could bloom when you thought of that? There was no harm in hoping. _'No one has ever looked at me like this… never talked to me like this... he's actually really cute...'_

She followed Jaune as he guided her through the next section of shelves, romance novels, apparently, but Blake wasn't really listening once again. Though, this time it was for a completely different reason.

Blake was a love starved person, someone who had never felt affection in any way, and right now her heart and mind were being overloaded. To anyone else Jaune's actions might have merely registered as a small, friendly gesture, but, to Blake, he was bombarding her with care. With compassion. With love.

Even if, deep down inside, she knew there was no real love in his actions, only kindness. Kindness that felt like love only to her. She was getting tired, this was far too much to take in all at once.

"I just figured you might like this section more than the others, seeing as how you had the Ninjas of Love books." The title of her favorite series coming out of Jaune's mouth was what brought Blake back to the world.

"What?"

"The romance section. I figured you'd want to read these books more than anything, so I was just saying, it's next to science non-fiction for some reason." He laughed lightly, making the butterflies in her stomach increase their activity.

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly as she reached out with the hand not in Jaune's grasp and took down a book at random, not even bothering to check the title. "You mentioned there was a place we could go and be alone?"

Jaune smiled at her again, making the warmth in her chest follow the butterflies' example and increase as well, taking down a book a seemingly random as well before leading her towards one of the staircases to the second floor of the building. Blake thought they were going up the stairs, but when Jaune's hand tugged lightly at hers she realized he was actually heading underneath the stairs to a, to her, hidden spot with a comfy looking couch and a Reading lamp set up.

"Welcome to my secret reading place." He said with a flourish, using the hand only holding a book. "I can leave you alone and come and find you later, if you want..."

"No," she exclaimed suddenly, increasing her grip on his hand. "I'd prefer it if you stayed, I kind if want to get to know you more- I mean we are going to be roommates from now on after all..." Jaune chuckled, and pulled her over to the couch.

"Sure. You know, I'm really glad you're friendly. At first I thought you didn't want to be friends."

Blake didn't answer at first, merely settling down next to Jaune and letting her fingers dance over the cover of the book she had picked up. It wasn't that she didn't want friends, but she had learned long ago that no one wanted to be friends with her. No one cared about her, no one ever had, at least until Jaune. She had known this boy for less than an hour and already she had felt more compassion from him than any foster parents or caretakers she had ever lived with. Not once had he even so much as raised his voice at her, and not even her faunus senses could pick up any hint of ill will from him. And she had done nothing to deserve such a treatment. Even with the people she had once considered somewhat friendly she had still needed to do something for them to actually have them act at all nice to her, or nice by her standards at least. But Jaune had helped her unpack, he had showed her the way to the library, he had helped her find books that he thought she would like, and all while giving off an aura that Blake could only describe as caring and safe. He had yet to ask anything in return for the things he had done for her.

Jaune was flipping her entire world upside down…

"I do. Let's just say I'm a very reclusive person. I wouldn't have felt bad if we didn't get roommates. I'm just a really... socially withdrawn person," she finally replied. Jaune nodded in understanding. It was so odd holding a conversation... _'Blake, just don't ruin this... when will you have a chance to have a friend like him ever again...?'_ She thought.

"That's understandable, I'm a bit of an introverted person myself. I already have too many friends here, but I think you all are enough for me. To tell you the truth I don't hang out with them as often as I should, but they don't seem to mind. So if you stay in the dorm a lot we might have a lot of opportunities to become best friends," he laughed. The sound of his laugh was music to Blake's ears, because she knew he wasn't laughing at her.

She couldn't, and didn't, fight back the smile breaking out on her face. It was the first real smile she had smiled in what felt like forever. She wanted to hold Jaune's hand again, the comfort that the simple action had brought was something she never wanted to lose, even if her exposure to the act itself had been brief. She debated opening up her book for a moment, but she didn't. She suspected Jaune wanted to talk more and she didn't want to appear rude, she didn't want him to leave...

 _'I have someone who wants to be my friend...'_ she thought as she glanced up at Jaune's still smiling face. _'I have a real friend... like the ones humans talk about... Jaune is my friend...'_

Jaune smiled back at her. "You have a nice smile, it's really great." That simple compliment made her pause, she didn't really know how to perceive such a thing. Her smile? Was he being serious? Her face had always been so flat to her. She never really showed that much emotion, but being around Jaune made her happy. For once she was given a reason to be.

She blushed and looked down at her book. "Thanks... that means a lot to me." _'More than you could ever realize.'_

From the corner of her eye Blake saw Jaune open up his own book and she watched his deep cobalt eyes move over the text on the page as he began to read. She followed his example and opened her own book, though she didn't actually start reading. She merely watched as Jaune read instead, taking in his features. He was certainly no man's man, but Blake still couldn't deny that she did find him quite handsome, nor did she really want to deny it. What her gaze couldn't seem to leave, though, were his eyes. They were like a pair of bottomless sapphire wells and she didn't doubt she could, and would, become lost within them if she looked into them for too long.

 _'Should I tell him I think he has pretty eyes...? He did compliment me... or is that too far...'_ her thoughts were interrupted as her ears caught the sound of someone making their way towards the stairs they were seated under. Someone big if the sound of their footsteps was anything to go by.

Jaune seemed to have heard it too, because he put his book down frantically and looked over at her. He blushed a small bit seeing that she was staring at him so hard, but brushed away. "You should head back to our dorm..." he said, quietly. "I can catch up with you later, but it's probably not a good idea to be here right now..."

Blake sensed the sudden change in his demeanor, and it confused her. He seemed terrified now. "Why?" Part of her felt like it was her fault, but she knew it wasn't as soon as she heard his voice.

"Oh Jaune-y, you're not hiding from me again, are you?" A somewhat deep voice called out.

"Because him..." Jaune said, sending her the biggest apologetic look in history.

From around the corner to their little hideaway came a hulking brute of a boy and Blake felt the urge to just crawl up and disappear. She didn't know the guy's name, but she recognized him. She had caught glimpses of him in classes and during the lunchbreaks, and every pour of Blake's being screamed at her to follow Jaune's advice as if it was an order. The brute was a cruel person, that much she knew, each time she had spotted him he was always tormenting someone, more often than not a faunus someone. Blake had never wanted to meet this person, and it seemed Jaune had the same idea as he positioned himself in front of her, making her, if only, slightly harder to spot.

"There you are, Jaune. I've been looking all over for you." The brute's voice was so disgustingly sweetly false it made Blake's ears want to curl up.

"Cardin," Jaune bit out as he further tried to obscure Cardin's view of Blake, but he knew by the grin on his face that he had surely noticed her. "What do you want?"

"Oh nothing much, I was just wondering how my best buddy was feeling, but then I noticed something interesting. You, Jaune worthless Arc, walking around with a babe in the library, hand in hand, and not just any kind of babe; a faunus babe." Cardin began, sending a look towards Blake that made her shiver from the pure disgust within it. "I want to say I didn't peg you as a filthy animal fucker, Jaune-y, but, honestly, they're probably the only ones willing to suck that pathetic dick of yours-"

"Shut up." Cardin was surprised by his simple retort, and so was Blake. "I mean... don't call her that, it's not cool..." Cardin smiled a toothy grin, and Blake felt like the right of it was going to make her sick because she knew what was coming next. Anyone with a brain knew. Why was he doing this? She could take the abuse, she had for years! He, on the other hand, didn't need to get involved, but he was...

 _'For me...?'_

"Call her what, Jaune? An animal? But that's what she is, just look at her ears. A filthy animal. You got a thing for filthy animals, Jaune?" He laughed, and Jaune stood fast.

"She's not an animal, Cardin. You ar-!" Blake winced as Jaune took a punch to the gut. She screamed in her mind as he was thrown to the ground and then kicked in the same spot he was punched. But she remained silent and Cardin suddenly forgot she was there, or at least it seemed like it.

"Never," kick, "Compare me," kick, "To those," kick, "Filthy," kick, "Fucking," kick kick, "Animals," kick, kick, kick, "Again!" Cardin roared as he placed his foot hard into Jaune's stomach one last time and took a deep breath before looking down at the now squirming mess of Jaune on the ground. "Or next time, I'm coming for her. You're just lucky you're a satisfying punching bag..."

Jaune clutched at his aching stomach, feeling blood and bile rise in his throat, but he still grinned weakly as he heard Cardin's footsteps get further and further away. He made no attempt to get up off the floor, the pain in his abdomen being too much for him to fight through, but still he grinned. He was fine with taking a few beatings, breaking a few bones even, as long as it meant Cardin went after him instead of his friends.

Blake sat still as a statue in her seat, her eyes locked on Jaune's now coughing form. She saw a glob of blood fly out of his mouth and all she could think of was how the universe had to hate her. Here she had found the most compassionate and caring person in all her life, and now he would never want to speak to her again, just because she was a faunus. He got beaten up, and it was all her fault. Had she just declined Jaune's offer to go to the library this would never have happened. Had she just let him go when he asked if she wanted to be alone Cardin would never have found them together. She would have been the one who was beaten, not Jaune…

"B-Blake…?" He coughed out. Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp. She fell down to the floor next to him, worried whether he was going to be okay or not. "I think I'm gonna need some help getting to the dorm..." he laughed, and it sounded so rattled that Blake felt an intense amount of sadness go through her heart. He was beaten up because of her, and he was still acting friendly, he was trusting her for help. "I'm really sorry that had to happen," he said weakly as she helped him to his feet and placed his arm around her shoulders. "That guy has it out for me, but he would have hurt you if I didn't step in. I'm really sorry I'm so weak," he said in a small voice.

Blake was unsure of what to say to him, but she knew she had to say something. Saying nothing was unacceptable here.

"You... you protected me..." she whispered, the feeling of Jaune touching her so much making the warmth she had felt before come back and multiply tenfold.

"It wasn't as much me _protecting_ you from him as it was me _distracting_ him from you..." Jaune laughed quietly and Blake could feel her heart clench in her chest.

 _'You're not weak, you're the strongest being I've ever seen. You stood up for me, you protected me... thank you, Jaune.'_ Was what Blake wanted to say, but she couldn't get it out. She couldn't get anything out. Jaune had protected her, sacrificed his own well being for her, a filthy animal. She didn't know how to react. The words she wanted to say remained as thoughts, but eventually she was able to get something out.

"W-why...?"

"You're my friend." He answered without hesitation. Was that really the answer...? Blake shivered. She didn't want friendship with her to be so hard, or painful.

It took a while for them to get to the dorm but thankfully no one stopped them on the way so they made it there quicker than they would have otherwise. Blake sighed as she laid Jaune down on her bed. Hers only because it was closer to the door. Jaune smiled as he coughed up even more blood.

"I think I need to go get some help..." Jaune nodded and got a bit more comfortable. "Who should I get?"

"Get Goodwitch... I'll be fine here." She sent him a skeptical look. "I promise, Blake." He reached out for her hand and she took his, her entire body warming from the contact.

She didn't want to let go off him now. She wanted to keep the comforting warmth his touch created forever. But she knew she had to, she had to get him help. "I... I'll be back as soon as I can... and Jaune... thank you for protecting me..." Blake never saw the reaction of her words as she stepped out the door, her heart beating like mad in her chest and Jaune's lingering warmth on her fingertips.

She wanted time to think, to sort out all her feelings and thoughts, but she knew that would have to wait. Making sure Jaune would be fine was her one and only priority at the moment, anything else would have to be pushed to the side.

XXX

Tracking down Goodwitch hadn't been hard for Blake, and called down a medical team to help. Luckily Jaune wasn't as seriously injured as Blake had thought. The internal bleeding had stopped they said, and now she had the job of watching over him as he recuperated from his injuries. They hadn't moved him for fear of worsening anything... so she was trying to sleep on his bed. Emphasis on trying. Thoughts ran rampant in her mind, mainly how weird her first day with a roommate had been.

 _'A roommate... and friend...'_ her mind almost scolded her. Yes, Jaune was her friend now, and she would never forget that. He had gotten injured for her, stood up for her... Blake doubted she had even met a person who had so much as _thought_ about defending her without some form of reward... but Jaune was different. _'You need to be careful, Blake. You can't lose someone like him, someone that actually cares for you...'_

She turned to look over at her bed where Jaune was sleeping soundly and just letting her gaze wander over him made the warming comfort sprout within her. She wanted to go over to him. She wanted to hold his hand in hers so that more of the warmth would spread throughout her body.

There were so many things that felt okay now. She was in college, she had a friend, her own personal health was fine as far as she knew... she would be able to live a decent life so long as she stayed away from danger. She felt more fortunate than she had in a long time. Maybe soon she could find someone else to be her friend, maybe potentially... a lover...?

Those were far away thoughts though. She just needed to focus on two things now. Jaune, and her education. That was all that mattered.

Jaune was perhaps the main focus to her at that moment though. His friendship came fast, and it crashed into her hard. It may have been sudden, but it left such a big impact on her. She was one to go with the flow, after all. She just needed to make sure that Jaune stayed healthy too now. She shifted to get more comfortable, but paused briefly as her heightened sense of smell picked up on something intense.

Jaune cologne, and his shampoo... and his natural scent. She remembered once again that she wasn't on her bed. Jaune's scent was nice. She felt the urge to rub herself into the bed and get some of it on her so she would smell like him in the morning. Well to herself anyway. No one else would notice... she blushed as she realized fully what she was thinking of doing.

She shook her head wildly to chase the almost lewd thoughts away before realizing something. Jaune wouldn't be able to attend class the next day, he still needed to heal by resting.

 _'It's my fault he got hurt in the first place... I need to make sure he gets better... I need to thank him properly...'_ Blake had never been one to skip out on classes, she hadn't been able to afford it, but right now she cared more about making sure Jaune recovered fully... and it would give them more time to talk.

If only she could sleep. She tried to calm herself down from the events of the day and did some breathing exercises she remembered she had read online until she felt herself drift off.

XXX

When Blake awoke the next morning, she got up with a start, suddenly panicking as she remembered that Jaune couldn't do anything without her. She looked over at Jaune, who was still sleeping peacefully, and then to the clock, which told her it was only 7 O'clock in the morning.

She rubbed her eyes and got out of the bed, deciding to do something productive instead of heading back to sleep. _'Maybe Jaune would appreciate some breakfast...'_ she thought, her stomach rumbling and letting her know that it would appreciate some too. She hadn't really had a chance to eat yesterday…

She knew there were no classes that started before 9 AM so she hoped that the cafeteria wouldn't been too crowded. Freshening up could wait, she decided, throwing on some baggy sweat pants and shirt over her sleeping wear before heading out to get some food for her and Jaune.

 **Maxaro: Please,** ** _please_** **leave a review. At the moment I'm feeling really stressed out because of some real life things and hearing you guys/gals/whatevers' opinion would really help.**


	2. Strengthening an attachment

**Maxaro: I want to thank every single person who reviewed this story, getting feedback on it from so many of you felt amazing and certainly helped with my IRL issues. The response to this story in general has been amazing too, the amounts of emails I've received _daily_ about someone favoriting or following it is staggering. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.**

 **Now, there's one thing I need to point out before the chapter starts; this is a collab with Lonely. I cannot take credit for writing this on my own, Lonely helped a lot with that, _but_ I still consider this to be _my_ story, just like how I consider _You're Awesome_ to be Lonely's story, since I'm the one who came up with the idea of this story in the first place and I'm kinda steering it. When I come up with a better description I will add that this is a collab to it.**

When Blake got back to the dorm, large tray of food in hand, Jaune was still sleeping. She carefully maneuvered her way over to her desk and sat the tray down on the flat surface. Thankfully, she hadn't yet begun to put her stuff up. Her things still littered the floor out of the way so someone didn't accidentally trip over it, and she felt her old need to have a sparkly clean living space kick in. But she knew that now was not a good time.

She looked over Jaune with a saddened smile. He was doing okay, it seemed. His breathing was steady and stable, and he didn't appear to be in pain. Although, the bandage she knew was wrapped around his ribs underneath his shirt... she still felt its presence, and she hated it. Jaune's eyes flitted open softly.

The room was somewhat dark, still, it being early in the morning, and Jaune's eyes had to adjust slightly before he focused on Blake with a smile. "M-morning sleepyhead," Blake said, giving a small little wave. As much as she counted Jaune as her friend, she couldn't help the timidity. It was forced into her brain, and it would be a long time before it was forced back out.

"Morning Blake..." he yawned out as he tried to sit up and stretch only to have to bite back a groan of pain as his ribs cried out in protest. Faster than he could track with his eyes, Blake was at his side, gently helping him to lay down on the bed again. He sent her a grateful smile, only slightly crooked thanks to the tenderness he now felt in his body. "Heh, almost forgot about that..." he tried to joke as he settled down on hi-... on Blake's bed apparently... but that would have to mean she slept...

Jaune's face reddened as he tried to shoo away the dirty thoughts, focusing instead on Blake's worried face mere inches from his own.

"H-how... how are you feeling...?" She asked carefully when it became clear to her that he had settled down. She had never been one to care about close proximity before, she was too used to being smushed together with other faunus when she was Little to care, so her being this close to Jaune wasn't as unsettling as one may think. She tried to ignore his little joke too. She desperately wanted to both forget and always remember the moment Jaune got hurt because of her. It was the first time someone had ever stood up for her in her life, but to see Jaune in pain was not a price she was sure she was willing to pay for that.

"A little bit okay. A little bit bad. Maybe both at the same time." She hated that Jaune was trying to downplay the pain he felt just for her. She could see that every time he moved it was like agony. "Okay, to tell you the truth," Jaune said, upon noticing her sour expression, "I feel like I got hit by a car." Blake winced, actually imagining him get hit by a car going WAY above the speed limit. "But it's not too bad!" Jaune rushed to say. "It's not all the time, it's very on/off, I can take it." Blake calmed down slightly at his assurance.

"Well, I got us some breakfast in case you were hungry." She hesitantly got up from his side, picked the tray up off her desk and brought it over to him. "I just got what they had, so there's some biscuits, some sausage, some I don't know what, but it looks foreign, and some pancakes. Also, apparently they were running low on pancakes. They said some girl showed up and ate nearly all of them at like seven, and they had to make more." Jaune laughed at this.

"We have a bit of a pancake problem, when they actually make them. They're a bit of a rare thing here, because of a certain someone." Jaune figured his friends would be over when classes were done. They wouldn't leave him alone after hearing the news.

"Well, I grabbed a few before they were completely out, and a few syrup packets. It's strawberry by the way, the maple was all gone." Jaune laughed again, and clutched at his side gently as he grimaced in pain.

Blake felt her heart clench uncomfortably each and every time signs of Jaune's pain were clear. She wanted to take his hand again, she wanted to feel that soothing warmth once more, but she didn't want to be too forward lest she did something that made Jaune uneasy. She wouldn't risk losing him over something like that. She couldn't.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Jaune's stomach grumbled and he sent her goofy smile that did cause some of the soothing warmth to blossom in her chest, and she sat down before his bed with the tray on her lap. "What would you like to eat?"

Jaune looked at the assortment of food for a moment before deciding that the pancakes would most likely be the tastiest breakfast treat. He started to try and sit up again, ignoring the pain shooting through his chest, but when he caught sight of Blake's worried expression he stopped himself. He was fine with hurting himself if he had to, he'd gotten used to it, but he could, and would, never hurt those whom he considered his friends. He settled down again and felt thankful Blake's expression turned back to what he considered 'normal'. "Could I get some pancakes please?"

"Sure thing," she replied setting the three pancakes she had managed to retrieve on a plate and pouring what she thought was the perfect amount of syrup on them. She placed the rest of the sausage and biscuits on her own plate and balanced the tray on Jaune's lap so he didn't have to strain too much or risk getting himself sticky. "Here you go," she said somewhat happily as Jaune took his fork and knife and began to dig in. He cut off a piece of the white fluffs of heaven and stuck it on his fork, letting out a moan of delight as he stuck it in his mouth.

Blake felt more of the warmth since it was clear that Jaune was enjoying the meal, as she too began eating her breakfast. She spread some grape jam on her biscuits and cut the sausage into bits, and slowly made her way through the meal while keeping a careful eye on Jaune.

He didn't mind that she was being so careful, and cautious. It just seemed to be in her nature. He sent her a smile, she returned it and suddenly felt like making conversation. "So I was thinking... how many friends do you have?" She asked slowly, wondering if she was going to have to meet all of them, and if they were as nice as Jaune.

Jaune couldn't help but laugh a little, taking a moment to think about the people he had gotten to know during the week he had been at Beacon as he put another piece of pancake in his mouth. He chewed slowly, mentally tallying up his friends. "Well," he started after he swallowed, "I don't know all of them equally well, but right now my circle of friends consists of about a dussin or so people, including you."

Hearing Jaune declaring that yes, she was his friend made Blake smile. Genuinely, like she had done in the library the day before. A dussin friends though... she doubted she had even known a dussin people who would consider talking to her without getting something out of it.

"First there's Ruby, she's a genius, apparently, only 15 but still placed here in school along with us. She's fun, in that kind of little sister sort of way, you know?" Blake didn't know, she had no idea if she even had any siblings, but she still nodded regardless, happy just to keep listening to Jaune talking. "Then there's her sister, Yang. She's... adventurous, I guess? She kinda makes me a little nervous, but she's totally cool though." Jaune paused for a moment so he could eat yet another piece of pancake.

"But, there is someone you might be a bit wary around... Weiss Schnee." Just at the mention of her name, Blake's hair stood on end. She knew who she was. Everyone knew who she was. The heiress to what was perhaps the largest company on all of Remnant. Producing everything from clothing lines to pencils, and never giving faunus fair wages and benefits equal to that of their human counterparts. She had heard a lot of things about the Schnee family, and equally as many things about Weiss. None of them were good. But Jaune wouldn't befriend a horrible person, so they had to be lies. But still... Weiss Schnee.

"I... I reserve my judgement." Blake liked to believe that she was an open minded person. Even if the thought of being in the same room with a Schnee made her skin crawl.

"Other than those three, there's Nora Valkyrie. Also known around Beacon as the Goddess of Pancakes. She's the reason you only managed to grab three of them." Blake wondered shortly in her mind just how this girl would look, but didn't let her mind form an opinion based on one fact. She disliked judging people, but even she was susceptible to doing so. "And there's her best friend, Lie Ren, he's super calm, quiet, generally leaves people alone unless they talk to him first. He's super great at conversations really, if you put the effort in. "Oh and Pyrrha Nikos-"

"Hold on, what?!" Jaune chuckled.

"Yes, _that_ Pyrrha Nikos. She's here too, and yes she's one of my friends." Jaune's chuckle turned into full blown laughter at the disbelieving look on Blake's face. He couldn't really blame her for not believing him, when he first found out who she was he also questioned why the hell someone like Pyrrha would want to as much as be in the same room as someone like him, but now that he knew the red-haired javelin champion a bit better he just thought a situation like this was funny. "She's really nice, honestly, and I can promise if you meet her she'll like you."

Blake wanted to scoff at that. Jaune had been a godsend enough, but thinking someone as prosperous and talented as Pyrrha Nikos would want a filthy faunus like her anywhere near her was absolutely ridiculous. Hoping that any of the friends Jaune had listed off would be as nice and caring towards her as he had been so far felt like she was placing all her bets on a fairy tale. Jaune was special, she was certain of that, and someone she wouldn't dare let go. At the moment he was enough. Jaune and her studies, that was enough in Blake's mind.

"Beyond those six, I have some people I'm slightly less familiar with, but I still totally count them as my friends." Jaune continued with a slightly cheeky grin, "Sun Wukong, he's a faunus like you actually, a monkey faunus. He's really cool, though maybe a bit scatterbrained. Other than him there's Coco and Velvet. Coco is crazy about clothing and she always walks around wearing these really cool sunglasses, and Velvet is a rabbit faunus. She's shy, from what I've been able to gather, but she's very nice and sweet. Lastly there's Neo... she's quiet, and a little odd at times, but as long as you stay on her good side, or feed her ice cream, you should be all good." Jaune finished his almost rant like listing of his friends by turning towards Blake fully. "And of course there's you."

There wasn't a doubt in Blake's mind that she could get along with Jaune's faunus friends. They both sounded nice, if only because her mind had made it to where she could only ever really trust other faunus fully. But the others, she wasn't sure about. She doubted she would ever really want to befriend any of them. Maybe she could be around them, tolerate them, just go about reading her book like always until Jaune gave her attention.

She nodded, acknowledging that the conversation topic was at its end. "What about you?" Or maybe not. Her Faunus ears raised. "How many friends do you have?" The question hit her hard.

 _'Here it comes...'_ she thought. _'I'm going to have to tell him how I got here, and then this will all come crashing down around me.'_

Blake let her gaze fell down to the plate on her lap, like she always did when she felt ashamed. She didn't want to have to tell Jaune her life's story, she didn't want him to leave. She didn't want him to leave after he found out how pathetic she was. She trusted him, maybe even more than she ever had another being, faunus or human, after only such a short time together, but she still wanted to avoid this.

 _'Though what I want still doesn't matter, so what's the point...?'_ Blake sighed, her eyes still locked on her thighs. "I... I don't have any other friends... at all... you're my first friend, Jaune..."

His expression fell, and he hummed in thought as she continued to speak. "I've lived most of my life in an orphanage, and I didn't ever get to know my parents. I think something bad might have happened to them, but I don't know... no one has ever told me. And since I'm a faunus, I never really had people there to care about me, and all the other kids and teenagers would laugh at me, and mock me. So I've never had a friend before in my life. The closest I've come to gaining friends before you are people who only tolerated me because they wanted to use me..."

"Blake." She flinched, though his voice was soft. "Come here." He beckoned her over with his eyes, and his soft voice. She found that she couldn't deny that combination. She was wary, unsure of what he wanted to do now that he knew. She was just a lonely freak, anti-social and too damn suspicious for her own good. She gasped out in surprise when he pulled her down gently into a hug.

For a moment she forgot about his injuries, ignoring how doing this must be hurting him, all because of one big thing: The warmth of Jaune's embrace. Blake had never been hugged in all her life, especially not like this. The calming heat Jaune supplied was flowing into her from every single part of her that was touching him and Blake practically melted into his comforting arms. Had this been anyone other than Jaune, she would have been terrified. She would have been worried sick about what motive the person who was hugging her had, what they wanted from her, or if they were just moments away from crushing her to death, but thanks to Jaune's warmth, his caring aura, Blake felt... _safe_. Comfortable. Her own arms even unconsciously made their way around his body, pulling her deeper into his embrace.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry for you, Blake..." he whispered softly into her human ears, his breath tickling her cat ears gently, "I'm not going to say I'm sorry because that implies that I pity you, and I don't. I'm sorry, Blake, that you had to live through something like that when you clearly deserve more, not because I pity or look down on you. I'm sorry that my friend had to go through something so horrible, and I'm _proud_ that you made it through."

Tears gathered on the edge of Blake's eyes, but she wouldn't allow herself to cry. That would just confirm everything she had ever been told. That she was weak, that she was just some sad little girl who had no hope of being strong... she wouldn't... allow those words to have any meaning… but she couldn't help it…

She sobbed into Jaune's shoulder, and he started whispering into her ear, telling her that everything was going to be okay.

His embrace, his words, they felt almost... _brotherly_. She had never known a feeling like this before, and for some reason she didn't mind that he was seeing her like this, she didn't mind that he was seeing her cry. She didn't mind that suddenly she was the one who was hurt, and he was the one taking care of her. "Thank you..." she sobbed out. "Thank you so much..."

"Don't mention it..." he whispered back as his hand began stroking her ebony curls in a way that sent a comforting tingle all throughout Blake's body. The warmth, the soothing feeling, Jaune's comforting touch... it all made her feel more relaxed than ever, and even though she was crying heavily into his shoulder she could feel nothing but care and what, to her mind, had to be _love_ radiating off him...

Whether it be brotherly love, platonic love, or some sort of romantic love Blake didn't care. All that mattered to her was that Jaune's embrace felt amazing as she cried and that all this love was coming from him.

"Do you... do you want to talk about it some more...? Get some more of this out...?" Jaune prodded carefully. He could tell Blake still had a lot of pent up feelings and that there were surely things about her past she left out, and he would be happy to be an outlet for those if she needed to release them somehow.

"Not right now..." she said, still sobbing and starting to feel sick. She tried to calm herself down as much as she could, and slowly, carefully pulled away from the hug, her eyes locked on Jaune's chest. He patted the side of her bed, and she gladly curled up beside him next to the wall. She let the tears run and dry out of her eyes as Jaune continued to rub his fingers through her midnight tresses. She noticed how his hand always avoided touching her ears. Since he had faunus friends, she didn't doubt he already knew how much affection that action held within it and was avoiding it for fear of offending her.

But Blake hadn't grown up traditionally, the action held nothing to her in terms of what was or wasn't taboo. She just wanted to feel his hands comforting her, so she moved her head and his hand found her ears. He blushed, and looked at her in surprise as she clenched her eyes shut tightly. He smiled and moved over a tiny bit so she could get more comfortable, and he picked up the tray and carefully sat it down on the floor beside the bed.

"When I was five, my ears were constantly pulled without my permission," she explained. "No one has ever rubbed them to comfort me, or make me feel good. But it still means nothing to me. I trust you, you can touch them whenever you want." Maybe she was giving too much to him too early. But she didn't care. He could do whatever he wanted, so long as he didn't hurt her, or cross any lines. As long as he kept comforting her like this, like he had been since the moment she met him and still was in this very moment.

 _'Are you really this desperate for affection?'_ Her mind asked, just like it had the day before, and this time Blake had a real answer. _'No, I'm not. But I want it. From Jaune. He cares about me, he's the first person to ever truly do that, and I right now I don't_ _ **need**_ _his affection, I just want it.'_ Saying that Blake was lying to herself was a massive understatement. Right now she did need affection, but since Jaune was giving it out so freely she felt as if she was merely wanting to take it rather that actually needing it.

Jaune's hand found her ear and a shudder passed through her body as his gentle, soft hands massaged the soft appendage in a way that she had never so much as dared dream would actually happen.

She didn't honestly know exactly how it was supposed to feel, or how she should have been feeling while he did it. But it did feel good. Just not as amazing as it was always made out to be. It was soothing, comforting, and it felt nice. All three of those things she had been missing all her life were now being given to her without any ulterior motives on the part of the giver. It still confused her, she was still shocked, and she still didn't know what to do if she really thought too deep into the situation.

"Blake, do you think our friendship moved too fast? Do you want to slow down?" Did she? She never asked herself that question before.

"No," she concluded. "I just want happiness, and you're giving me that. So I'm content." Jaune smiled, and just swallowed down all the doubts he had. If she didn't care, then neither should he. He was just going to run with it. As were his original plans.

Blake scooted a little closer towards Jaune as he continued gently caressing her ears, Jaune not noticing that her first class would start soon. She didn't care, though. Jaune was more important to her at the moment, and she wanted to stay with him to make sure he rested up and to keep being in his calming aura. That was worth missing one day's worth of classes in her mind. How many chances had she had to feel happy in her entire life so far? Staying near Jaune like this made her feel happy, and the reason she tried to get into a collage in the first place was to make sure she got a chance at a, by faunus standards, happy future after all. This was just pushing up the happiness to now instead of later.

A incredibly soft purr erupted from Blake's throat, the first purr of contentment she had ever released, and it was because of the incredible boy laying beside her.

Of course, it being the first she had ever made, she wasn't expecting it. It was an involuntary action. Her eyes opened wide, and a blush adorned her face as Jaune's face lit up with an amused smirk, having never heard something so cute, and also not expecting cat faunus to actually be physically capable of purring. "Blake?"

"Sh-shut up!" She pushed her head into his shoulder, trying her hardest to hide her face from his view. "I c-can't help it! It just happened!" His smirk softened into a relaxed smile and she relaxed with it.

"I think it's cute."

Blake relaxed even more when those words left his mouth, and she wondered briefly how he was capable of such a thing as calming her down with just a few words. She had never before felt so comfortable, it was as if everything that had ever made her into an anxious mess was just... gone. At least for a moment.

' _Is this how it felt to be around a true friend...? To be around someone you trust...?'_ She never wanted the feeling to go away, it was the most amazing thing ever in her mind.

"Jaune, I told you about my life, now I want to hear about yours." _'I want to know more about you,'_ she thought.

He smiled at her, still gently caressing her ears and making more quiet purrs emerge from within her. "Of course, though there's not really much to tell."

"Doesn't matter." _'I still want to know everything I can about you. Because I can trust you. because you're my friend.'_

"Okay. I grew up in a town called Ville on the border to Atlas with my mom, dad, and my seven sisters." Blake was about to interject, but Jaune, seemingly having told this story many times, stopped her by holding up a hand. "Yes, seven, and yes it was just as odd and cramped as you're imagining." She wasn't really thinking it was odd, she'd lived together with 12 other people at one point so she understood perfectly how crowded living like that could feel. "My sisters are pretty crazy, so there was never really a quiet moment in my life at home. I'll tell you about my sisters later, if you're really interested. But you probably just want to hear about me right now." She nodded deftly. "My childhood was pretty normal as far as those go, even with the far from normal antics I was experiencing. When I turned 13 I had sort of developed an interest in joining the army, like my dad and so many other Arcs, but I never really committed to it. My mother, and my sisters to a slightly lesser extent, convinced me to pursue a normal life instead, and I realized that that's what I really wanted.

"I just sort of tried harder during school and forged my way here. All in all, I'd say my life is about as average as average can be. No real hardships, no real sadness... I'm extremely lucky for that reason. Is there anything else you want to know about me? I mean, that was pretty brief, there wasn't a lot of detail to go into," he laughed. Blake pursed her lips and hummed in thought.

Even if it sounded average to him, Blake thought it sounded amazing. Not having to worry about if you'd even be alive the next day, worry about if you'd have to skip eating for a day, or just worry about if you were about to be sent off to another foster-home that would just treat you like slave. Again. She felt a twinge of jealousy that Jaune had had it so easy, but she quickly killed it. There was a reason for why he'd had it easier after all. Jaune wasn't a faunus like her, with how the way the world worked he, as a human, would always have it easier than her. She had accepted that long ago, and she refused to become jealous towards someone who had already given her more care than she ever thought she would receive. She refused to feel anything but Gratitude and happiness when she thought about Jaune.

But she still wanted to hear him talk some more, wanted to listen to his voice and become if possible even more relaxed, even if her classes had started. "Tell me about your house, please..." she whispered as she closed her eyes and leaned more into Jaune's touch.

"It was a pretty big house. The one we live in _now_ that is. We had a lot of financial trouble for a long time, and we were always looking for a house big enough to fit all of us. Our parents sort of never really chilled out with their apparent love of having children, we had to share a small room for a long time. When I was eight, I remember feeling cramped, sleeping close up against my sister Rose, and my twin Merron, and our big sisters Noir and Verte. We all slept on the floor, on a pile of blankets, and pillows, because we couldn't really afford separate beds for all of us, but we didn't mind. It was comfortable in a weird way, being so close to everyone.

"And it wasn't like we didn't have a lot of room to spread out on the floor, it's just that they all loved to sleep next to me because I was apparently the warmest out of all of us, and the blankets were kind of 'holey'. My big sisters Rouge, Blanc, and Violet liked to be cool though, so they slept away from me." Blake tried to imagine a big pile of girls that resembled Jaune sleeping on top of him, crushing him with their weight, and she could help but laugh.

He continued. "It wasn't until Violet graduated from the local academy and moved out to start studying to become a psychiatrist that we had a turn of luck in the money department. That was when she started making enough money to help us all get a bigger house. Our new house, the house everyone still lives in as of me telling you this, is big. It's got two bathrooms, three bedrooms, and it's two stories. More than enough space for us. And it also came with beds, I don't need to tell you how happy we were about that..."

Blake certainly understood why Jaune's sisters would want to sleep next to him, he was warm. And calming. And relaxing. And caring. _'Maybe you should ask if you can sleep next to him sometime...?'_ Her mind teased, making Blake's cheeks burn slightly and her eyes to shut even harder. She had never been a calm sleeper, she was always weary and easily awoken, and for as long she could remember she had nightmares. She didn't dream, even the few nights her sleeping mind wasn't tormented, she only rested in a way. She closed her eyes, and then the next second it was morning and she had slept restlessly for six hours, even if her head still felt like she had just laid it down on her arms.

Until last night at least.

Last night, while laying in Jaune's bed, surrounded by his scent and her mind replaying the events of the day, she had had a dream. A simple one. She was sat in a room, filled with rows of bookcases, reading some odd book. It wasn't filled with words or pictures, just... feelings. Every page brought a new sensation to her body. Comfort. Peace. Calmness. _Love_ , even. And along with the feeling was a scent, though it stayed the same. Like a forest, mixed with sweat, and what she guessed was cologne.

It was a nice dream.

"Do you have any dreams, Jaune?" She asked. His eyes widened, not expecting such a jump in topic, but he really didn't mind it. "I have a dream, but I don't think it will ever come true." He looked immediately interested in hearing it, and that made the warm feeling she had because she was close to him pulsate, and send a tingle up her spine.

"I have a dream too, I also don't think it will come true, but you know. I don't think anyone really does. My dream is kind of simple, and not really the most extravagant, or flashy. You know how people always say they wanna be an actor, or a rock star, or famous... Well, I just wanna help people. But I really don't have an outlet with which to do that. And the military just seems like a bad idea now." _'Because then I would be putting you through hell all over again,_ ' he thought. "What is yours?"

"I... I want to make a family. That's my dream."

Jaune hummed in approval. "It's a nice one, and certainly possible. I'm sure you'd make a great mother and wife." Hearing those words, those simple words, made Blake's heart stop, though her purring got a slightest bit louder. She didn't expect Jaune to think her dream was stupid, unlike what someone else might have done for a faunus, but to hear him say that he thought she could actually achieve it, that he actually _believed_ in her... it was more than she could ever have hoped for.

"R-really...?" She asked carefully, wanting to hear him say it again, as she scooted even closer to him.

"Yeah. I'm sure every kid out there would love to have someone like you as a mom, and I'm sure you'll make some guy or girl the happiest person on the planet when you become their wife..."

"It's hard for me to think of that happening, I've never even experienced romantic attraction before, I don't think I'd know what it feels like. I... you know, it's pretty predictable, but I've never even kissed anyone." If there was anything Blake was insecure about, it was that. That one fact, that always made her feel like she had missed out on a normal life. Most people had kissed someone at least once by the time they turned 17, and here she was, in college, having never even truly hugged someone until Jaune.

"That's alright. I haven't either. My mom, and my sisters too, always told me to wait for the right person. I've... dated before. But none of those people stayed long enough for it to get serious. I think my sisters kind of drove them off," he laughed happily, "I'm sure of it actually. they didn't really approve of them."

Blake once again felt happiness course through her upon learning that she wasn't alone. "That doesn't upset you?" She asked, trying to keep her head on topic with their conversation.

"Nah, I trust their judgment."

 _'If they're anything like you, trusting them would be the easiest thing someone has ever done...'_ she thought. How much time had passed since she laid down next him, or since she got up for that matter, Blake had no idea. Though she didn't care. If she could stay like this, bathing in Jaune's calming aura for all eternity, she would do it in a heartbeat. She had known him for less than two days, yet she had become more _attached_ to Jaune that she ever thought she would to anyone. And she had no problems with that. She didn't care about if they were moving too fast, like he had suggested earlier, she wanted to remain happy for as long as she could, and the only one that could provide her with that happiness was Jaune, she knew. He was enough.

"Your sisters sound like they really like you," _'Though_ _ **not**_ _liking you seems like it would be tough...'_ "How do they feel about you living here at school?"

"I think they're okay with it. I mean, Rose was pretty upset, and Merron started crying when I told her I was going to Beacon because she decided to stay and attend the local college. She always wanted to go together, because she was pretty socially withdrawn, but I think she understands now that it was for the best. She's actually made lots of friends, and broken out of her shell. The others... I think they understood my reasons for coming here. Especially Violet. Overall I think they're totally okay with it. I just can't wait to see their reaction to my first letter... and yes, I'm going to send them letters even though I could text them. They specifically asked me to." He smirked.

"Dear family, you would not BELIEVE the week I've had. I made two famous friends and four others on my first day here, and then, a few days later, I meet my roommate, and she's somehow cemented herself as one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and I can't wait to get to know her better." Blake laughed softly, pushing him pushing to avoid hurting him further.

"Is your letter just going to be about me?"

"It just might, if things keep going as they are, I just might have to take you during Thanksgiving and introduce you as my _girlfriend_." Blake blushed, her laughter continuing for moment, though becoming a little bit more uncertain. Jaune just smirked, knowing his joke would make her laugh at least a little.

To Blake, the joke, innocent as it may be, was odd to think about. While she didn't care just _how_ fast she and Jaune were moving, she did realize that they _were_ moving really fast, and that in the future Jaune's joke might not be just a joke. It could become something _far_ bigger and far more real, at least if they, or more specifically _her,_ continued to let this _friendship_ of theirs progress this quickly.

So she just decided that she wouldn't let it. She didn't think she had feelings for Jaune, ' _Not yet at least...'_ And that was a possible outcome to this situation, she knew. But now, he was just someone she cared about platonically. Or at least... she figured that's what the feeling was. She didn't know.

It was confusing, all these new feelings Jaune had caused within her, but she couldn't say she didn't like it. Even if she didn't know just how she was supposed to react to or interpret the care Jaune had shown for her, she didn't feel like she _needed_ to know. She had never felt anything like this, never felt warmth in this way, but this was the best _new_ she had ever experienced. Whether it was romantic or just platonic didn't matter, she just wanted to feel more of it. From Jaune. That was enough. She didn't need to reach out to obtain more outlets of this feeling when she already knew Jaune was giving them to her. Jaune was enough...

Jaune glanced down at Blake's now peaceful face, her tears having long since stopped running from her eyes. She had gone through many hardships in her life, far more than she had told him about today, that much he could tell, and even after just two days he knew she didn't deserve any of it. Blake was an amazing girl, it was crystal clear to him, one of his friends, and he would make sure her stay at Beacon was a happy one, whatever it took.

Even if he had to endure countless more beatings from people like Cardin to make sure she was happy, he would do it without hesitation. He wanted everyone to be happy, that was his dream, and Blake was certainly among those everyone.

"I need to sort some things out in my head," she mumbled. "You wouldn't mind if we just sort of... laid like this for a while in silence, would you...?"

"Not at all. I'm actually really comfortable." The smile on her face was so sickeningly sweet, Jaune thought he was going to develop cavities. And it was genuine, he could feel it.

"Good, because I don't plan on moving for a while."

"Well, good, because I don't want you to move."

"Good."

"Good." Jaune cracked a smile to match hers, and the two of them broke out into quiet laughter. The rest of their time was spent cuddling in silence, and Blake fell asleep listening to his heartbeat. "Maybe it's just because you're so damn easy to get along with, but I feel like you and I are so close already..." he whispered, still slightly petting her ears.

 **Maxaro: Serious question, please answer in a review: Do you guys/gals/whatevers like this chapter better than the first one? Do you want more dialogue heavy chapters, like this one, or more Blake introspection chapters, like the first one?**


	3. Using an attachment

**Maxaro: Sorry for the month long wait for this chapter, we got kinda sidetracked and I had some issues I had to work through. The RWBY finale came and went, and I can happily say that it didn't cause me to have as big of an emotional breakdown as I feared it would. Sure, it made me feel sick at some points, but I do like the doors it opened up.**

 **Now then, this story. One of the reasons this chapter took so long was because of my view of this story as a whole. As I've mentioned, I consider this to be _my_ story just like You're Awesome is Lonely's, but after re-reading the previous chapter like fifty times I came to the conclusion that I fucked up. I have fixed the fuck up, hopefully, but it was still a fuck up nonetheless. I won't go into too much detail about what the fuck up was, as it would spoil a bunch of what I've planned for this story, but I want you all to know that the fluffy nature of the last chapter will not return anytime soon, or at least in the same way.**

 **Finally, I have some news. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and it has given me some clarity on some things. My love-hate relationship with RWBY as a whole for example. I have decided to channel some of my feelings about the news into my writing, and as such you may feel like the mood changes very drastically at times. This is intentional and will serve a purpose, I promise. To anyone still reading so far, good job, and please enjoy the chapter.**

When Blake woke up later that same day, still at Jaune's side, bathing in his warmth, she did so feeling more rested than ever. She wasn't sure just how long she had slept, or how long _Jaune_ had been sleeping for that matter. She could hear his calm, regular breaths thanks to their close proximity, him having apparently turned sometime in his sleep so his chest was resting against her back, and Blake felt... _comfortable_ with it. She was used to sleeping with someone else pressed against her, but never like this. Jaune wasn't twisting or turning in his sleep and he was pushing against her in a way that tried to get her farther away from him. He was just calmly sleeping, his warm breath hitting her neck every so often, and Blake honestly felt no desire to move.

She had dreamed that same dream again, the one in the library, but this time the scent from the book was even stronger than before. She liked the scent, and know that she was so close to him, she could easily understand it was Jaune's special smell. Even in her dreams it seemed he had wormed his way inside, and Blake didn't feel bad about it. If he could make her calm and remove her nightmares, she'd let her invade as much of her mind as he wanted. She trusted him that much.

A small rumble made its way from her stomach, and only know did Blake spare a glance at the clock hanging on the wall. It was four in the afternoon. She had slept at Jaune's side for at least five hours…

Five hours of calmness, and warmth, and all sorts of other great feelings. There was only one thing in her mind as she rose slightly, trying her best not to disturb Jaune's rest, and that was, to be completely honest, food. A small bit of her mind was focused on Jaune, but the need for sustenance was a great one. After all, she was only a faunus, and faunus and humans functioned almost completely the same in terms of their bodies' needs.

She knew that if her own body was already hungry, then Jaune's must be as well, or at least not far away from being so. She carefully snuck her way out of the bed, using the years of experience she had within her sneaking around the orphanage not to rouse him from slumber. Her feet made contact with the floor, and Jaune seemed to feel around for her and frown a bit before putting his hands under his pillow and stretching in his sleep. She looked down at her own clothed form, and noticed that she was still in her pajamas from early that morning. She didn't think anyone would really care, though it would be a little odd. She really didn't want to change. It wasn't exactly a rare sight to see a student walking around in sleeping clothes.

She stretched and yawned, her joints and bones popping and snapping as she sighed in relief and pleasure from the act. Her ears twitched atop her head, and she prepared herself mentally as she stepped outside of the safe zone that was her dorm. All she needed to do was get some food, and return. What could possibly go wrong in the time it takes to do that?

 _'With my luck,'_ she thought, _'pretty much everything.'_ After all, black cats were known to be very unlucky.

It wasn't far to the cafeteria, and Blake knew dinner would be served for at least another hour, so she wasn't in any hurry as she scampered around the halls, feeling her body tense up every time she heard a noise that hadn't come from her. The week earlier she usually ate during the last few minutes the kitchen was open, to avoid anyone seeing or confronting her, but now that she had skipped out on lunch, and the knowledge that Jaune also needed food, she had to head there during the dinner rush.

 _'Take it easy, Blake. You've done this before, just keep to the walls, grab two plates, fill them with food, and then sneak back to Jaune. As long as you stay calm and collected, nothing will go wrong...'_ her mind tried to comfort her, but only the thought of returning back to her dorm, returning to Jaune, helped her nerves become slightly less tense.

The loud mixture of hundreds of conversations coming from the the cafeteria greeted Blake's faunus ears as she made her way closer to the double doors leading to the large dining hall, and with a deep breath she carefully pushed the doors open and sneaked in. Her ears hurt slightly and all the noise made her feel, if possible, even more uncomfortable, but she fought through it, keeping to the walls as she made her way towards where the food was being served out.

The cafeteria, which also doubled as an auditorium at times, was about the size of the library she had visited yesterday, albeit with only one floor. Hundreds of benches and tables were strewn about, most likely having been carefully arranged before all the students sat down and pushed them together to create bigger tables so they could sit together. But Blake tried to ignore all this, her eyes only focused on the price; food.

She wasn't used to being able to take as much food as she wanted, having grown up on the strictest of rations, so she, along with most other faunus, still kept their meals light out of fear of someone yelling or punishing them for taking too much food.

But now she really had to take a lot, mostly out of worry for getting Jaunt stuff he didn't like and him being upset with her. So she grabbed a small amount of everything she saw. There was chicken, pizza, salad, sandwiches, you name it, the selection really was rather glorious, and the sight of it all made Blake even hungrier. She wasn't sure why there was such a large selection, as she was sure most schools didn't have an all you can eat buffet situated right in the mess, but she wasn't really complaining. Beacon was always ranked pretty high up there as far as colleges go, and she knew that the food selection probably played a part in that.

It was still all cafeteria food, but it was food, and any teenager ever could tell you food was a precious luxury that was treasured more than anything, perhaps even video games for some.

With two loaded plates, she made her way to the end of the line and placed them gently onto a tray. Her mission was almost complete, now all she had to do was make her way back, which of course meant going through the halls all over again. She was slightly less tense on her way back, but now there weren't so many students pushing around her, and most, thankfully, were being kind enough to give her a bit of space when they noticed the tray. At least some of the people in the school were polite.

She knew they were just doing so because they didn't want the food to end up as a rather expressive form of outerwear, but she was still thankful.

She thought back to meals at the orphanage once more, and she remembered the bland taste of the food she was served. Bland mashed potatoes, and peas, and corn, and one tough slice of mystery meat that could have been veal, or venison, or chicken. But whatever it was it always tasted off. The stuff they served at Beacon was, well, quite frankly a Godsend. Even if she didn't really believe in any gods.

The food she had picked up wasn't the most healthy, but from the small meals she had eaten of it before she knew it was rather tasty, far better than anything she had eaten before at least. There were healthier alternatives on display too, and she could smell that even those most likely tasted good as well, but since she wasn't sure what Jaune liked she just took what she had spotted the other students eating, ignoring things like the salads.

Carefully, Blake made her way back to the double doors leading out of the cafeteria, thankful for the fact that students were allowed to eat in their rooms as long as they handled the washing of the dishes themselves, and she fortunately managed to not bump into anyone on the way. She knew spilling any of the food on her tray onto someone would never end well for her, especially since she was a faunus. Had she been another human student she guessed she'd be yelled at, maybe pushed around, but she recalled how one of the other faunus students had accidentally spilled a glass of orange juice on the floor, splashing some of it onto one of the human students, and the next time she saw them, the faunus' arm was in a cast and they had a very nasty looking bruise covering their right eye.

Despite the progressive nature of Beacon, Blake understood the higher ups still had little sympathy for faunus. If a human got treated the same way a faunus did, the ones harassing them would face grave consequences, but as long it was a faunus, someone of a lower value, they didn't really care too much. She hated it, but she could also do nothing to change it. She had just been forced to accept it as how the world worked.

When she finally got to the door leading out of the cafeteria, Blake swiftly made her way out of it and headed back her dorm, keeping her gaze on the floor as she walked, only vaguely registering the people passing by her.

Pushing her way back into the dorm, Blake's eyes popped open in surprise to see a guy dressed in blue scrubs, possibly just a few years older than her, standing over Jaune, checking his blood pressure. He turned briefly to see Blake set down the tray on her desk as she took a seat on her chair. "How is he?" She asked, feeling no fear. The nurse was a faunus, his long tail flowing out from his scrubs in a perfectly cut hole. She knew just from instinct, he was a feline faunus, like herself.

"Well he's doing much better, he's no longer in a lot of pain, it seems-"

"All good!" Jaune interrupted.

"But he still needs to be careful," the nurse said in a faux impatient tone. "I think he just needs a bit more rest, and he should be just fine. Tomorrow he should be able to attend classes, but I will need you, as his roommate, to watch out for him. Make sure he doesn't take any blunt force trauma to the chest and ribs, and make sure he drinks a lot of water. He needs to eat and drink to keep his strength up, he had lost a decent amount of blood. That and according to the files we have on hand, he's somewhat anemic, so it's of the utmost importance he keeps very well hydrated." Blake nodded, understanding that she really needed to help Jaune towards his full recovery.

"I'll be sure to take care of him," she said matter-of-factly. The nurse nodded and took the monitor off of Jaune arm. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's all. You two have a good meal," he said as he left, presumably to get some food of his own.

Blake made her way over to Jaune's bed as soon as the door closed, taking a seat before it like she had done that morning. She wanted to lay down next to him again, but she didn't want to be too forward or assume something. She would only seek out physical contact of Jaune allowed it, lest he become uncomfortable or even angry.

"How are you feeling?" She asked carefully as Jaune smiled at her and let out a little chuckle. She liked his smiles, they made her feel warm.

"Didn't the nurse kinda just answer this question?" He laughed and Blake instantly felt bad, her gaze falling to the floor. It was a stupid question, she shouldn't have asked i- "But yeah, like he said, I'm feeling better. Ribs are still a bit tender and I'd appreciate it if you didn't punch me in the stomach, but otherwise I'm fine." Blake's thoughts were cut of as Jaune's calm voice, filled with no ridicule about how she was an idiot filled her head.

He hadn't shown her any kind of ill-will so far, and yet Blake still found it incredible that he didn't ridicule or insult her. That his voice was so soothing and calm when he spoke to her. That despite her asking a stupid question he still answered it without even calling her out on asking it in the first place in a manner that wasn't humorous.

"That's good." She replied quietly, making Jaune frown.

"Is something wrong, Blake?" She shook her head.

 _'No, everything is great, I just don't know how to react when you talk to me. I don't know how to react when you don't ridicule me. I don't know how to react when you show care for me...'_ "No, sorry, just, head spinning... you should eat, nurse's orders." She got up and grabbed the tray, bringing it over to him like she had earlier this morning, and sitting it down on his lap. They each grabbed a plate and got to work on eating their food in silence.

Tomorrow they would go about things as friends, their first 'official' day together as friends. How was a friend supposed to act? Could they just go on being as they were? No doubt if they did they would get asked some questions by Jaune friends. Of which there were many, Blake reminded reminded herself. Being friends with Jaune basically assured that, no matter what, he would introduce her to them, and she wasn't looking forward to that. She didn't want to meet these new people, any one of whom could be a racist asshole like most everyone else in her life had been. Any one of which could potentially hurt her.

 _'Especially the Schnee!'_ Her mind screamed at her. From what Blake had seen, Weiss Schnee was an entitled, rich bitch who thrived on her daddy's money. She constantly flashed said money and enjoyed shopping copiously for her 'friends,' which Blake was sure was code for 'person she keeps around to pretend that she's well liked'. Every opinion she had formed about her was through what she had learned from the media. From what she saw on TV, from what she read in the news, and from what she had seen online.

All those headlines, all those articles, all of everything about her just screamed 'entitled brat'. But she did say she would reserve her judgement. Maybe all of that stuff about Weiss was wrong, maybe she had just based her opinion on lies, and photos caught at bad moments. Maybe Blake was being a part of the problem from judging someone she didn't even know...

But she heavily doubted it.

 _'But Jaune said she's his friend...'_ the seemingly more part of her mind reminded her. _'Would someone like_ _**Jaune**_ _really want to be friends with someone like the Weiss Schnee you've heard so much about?_ ' She heavily doubted that too, and for what felt like the thousandth time since she met Jaune, Blake felt conflicted. If Weiss was as bad as the press described her, why would Jaune want to be anywhere near her? She knew she had only known him for two days, but Blake couldn't possibly imagine Jaune wanting to befriend someone as horrible as the Weiss Schnee the media had painted...

She shook her head, deciding that these things were better thought of later, and she instead focused on eating her food, every once in awhile sending Jaune a glance, both to see if he too was eating and because seeing him made her feel, if only, a little less confused, at least about Weiss.

There were still a couple of hours left in the day, and as they finished eating, Blake didn't know what to do. She couldn't study up on what she had missed while skipping class today since she had no one to tell her just what she missed, and she didn't feel like putting away her things either. She wanted to maybe head to the library to just read a book, but she didn't want to leave Jaune alone unless she had to, and not only because she needed to watch over him.

 _'Just ask him if he wants to go to library with you, you can do it. As long as you help him get there everything's going to be fine...'_ Blake's mind urged and she swallowed, her mouth feeling dry as a dessert, as she put away her plate and picked up Jaune's too, setting them aside with their dishes from that morning. "Do you... do you want to head to the library...?" She asked quietly, not knowing how she should word it. She had never dared ask anyone for something like this before, she had always been too afraid that someone would hit her if she spoke up, but with Jaune it felt easier. So she wanted to try.

"That sounds great, actually, we could actually rest easy knowing that Cardin's not going to come in and try anything. At least he won't for a while. He wouldn't risk it, anymore trouble and he'd probably be expelled." Jaune tried to get up, but he could only manage to make a little bit of progress on his journey out of bed before Blake stepped in and offered him a hand. She was smiling widely, happy that he had accepted her suggestion. "You really don't have to help me so much, I'm fine, honest! It's just a little bit harder is all. I don't want you to have to go through the trouble..."

"Uh uh, hush, I'm alright helping you, it's no trouble at all." She helped Jaune up a tiny and put his arm around her shoulder before pulling completely off the bed. She held in a sigh of content at the contact. Jaune carefully stretched away the wobbliness in his legs, feeling that odd feeling of suddenly becoming active after having been stagnant for so long.

"Well, if you insist... thank you, Blake. It means a lot to me that you're here to help me," he said, his sincere, grateful tone making Blake's cheeks redden while the warmth only grew. All that gratitude being sent her way was overwhelming for Blake, she wasn't used to her good deeds being recognized. "I can't wait to get to the library and just lie down on the couch and curl up with a good book. I've been reading this book that I think you might like actually," he said enthusiastically.

Blake smiled up at him as they made their way out of the hall, having Jaune with her helping with the nerves walking around gave her. "I'd love to read it when you're done then, if it's okay with you?"

Jaune smiled back at her and Blake felt more warmth fill her body, ignoring the people walking by all around them. "Of course!"

XXX

Blake laid in Jaune's bed, just like the night before, just staring up at the ceiling. Their trip to the library had been undisturbed by anyone, and time had flown by as they sat together reading in silence. It had been peaceful and Blake looked forward to doing it again, if Jaune wanted to. Her eyes shifted to Jaune's desk, where the book he had recommended laid. She would begin reading it as soon as she had the chance, now that he had finished it, and she was excited to see just what would happen in it.

According to Jaune, it was about a world where creatures called Grimm roamed and humanity was in an unending war with them. It focused on a pair of teens training to become what was know as Hunters, going to a school that specifically trained people to fight the forces of Grimm. It sounded really interesting to Blake, and since Jaune liked it she was sure she'd like it too.

Turning around so she laid on her side, she looked over at Jaune's peaceful, sleeping face, her night-vision letting her see his features clearly despite the almost pitch-black room. Tomorrow they would head to class together for the first time since they became roommates, and Blake couldn't help but wonder what it was going to be like. She had Always stayed quiet in class unless she got called on, and she idly wondered how Jaune worked. She couldn't recall seeing him in her classes before, but maybe he was just quiet like her, or they didn't share all that many classes after all.

She hoped it was the former, and not the latter. Having Jaune with her in class would help her a lot, especially with her nerves. Class had always been a time where she thought too much, and her brain just died on her, especially if she thought she saw someone looking at her. Perhaps Jaune would be the cure to that, as he had been for most everything else. She closed her eyes in an attempt to get some sleep, but it didn't seem like it would come as easy as it did last night, for whatever reason, so after about thirty minutes of lying awake, she resorted to thinking some more.

Jaune had looked so comfortable in the library, like he was in his element. Most people get headaches just thinking about being surrounded by all that text, but it brought a serene state of mind to Blake, and it looked like Jaune shared in that. Her heaven was in the words of others, words that they had written. Be it by hand, typewriter, or keyboard. Whether those words be considered classic, filth, or terrible. Her heaven, was made up of ink and paper.

All throughout her childhood, locked in that orphanage, she had one constant. Books. She always struggled to get more of them, they were a rarity, hard to come by. She read all sorts, action, adventure, romance, crime, fantasy, and science fiction, even a few horror novels, though those had not helped her sleeping habit. In fact, all the nights she had stayed up, terrified out of her mind, while all the other kids slept around her were quite possibly the lead up to her less than stellar track record with falling asleep.

 _'Insomnia is a harsh mistress,'_ Blake thought to herself, tossing and turning, trying to get more comfortable. She remembered one book in particular that she always went back to, though she had found the plot to be not as scary when she grew older. It was one about a hotel that was alive with paranormal activity, terrorizing a family that was given the job of looking over it for the winter. That one had kept her awake many nights, and could be traced back to as the origins of her insomnia.

It wasn't scary. Not anymore, but...

She groaned, turning back to Jaune with an expression of somber acceptance on her usually timid, yet stoic countenance. "I wish I had told you had pretty eyes when I had the chance..." she still thought he did. Every now and then she would look into them and get lost. It had happened several times while they had been reading together. She closed her eyes, focusing on the mental image of his eyes. So deep, and so perfectly blue...

XXX

The smell of a forest, pine if she recalled correctly, was just as strong as it had been the previous two times she had been in this dream, but this time, Blake noted, there was something new. The book was on her lap and the bookcases were still as full as ever, but all around her, the floor, the walls, even the ceiling, there was blue. Dark blue. Like she was sitting in a glass box in the middle of the ocean. She liked the blue. It was pretty, and it soothed her as she continued to read. The emotion she felt on the next page in her book was warmth. Like someone had thrown a blanket all around her. It, just like everything else in this dream, was nice.

She kept on reading her book, not even considering putting it down to take a look at another one from one of the many shelves. She liked this book. She wanted to continue reading it. She flipped to the next page and, suddenly, it felt like someone had put their arms around her and she could feel sympathy from the embrace. It felt nice. The blue around her sparkled, as if it truly was endless, as she moved to the next page once again, but this time she didn't feel anything. She could still smell the pine and cologne and sweat, but there was no feeling this time. Instead there was just a word on the page, but she couldn't understand it. She flipped back through the book, and on every page she felt an emotion, but not on the new one.

The new one was different, almost as if it was locked somehow, and Blake felt curious. She felt as if she should understand what the word on the page meant, but she didn't. She didn't understand what L. O. V. E. was or what it meant. Then she started feeling hungry. Almost starved...

And then she woke up.

XXX

Blake didn't think much about her new dream as she got up with Jaune. He let her take the shower first, for which she was very grateful. She was quick, not liking how the water felt on her body, her ears specifically, and while Jaune slipped into it after her, removing his bandages before getting under the jets of water, Blake headed out and secured some breakfast for them, thankfully not meeting anyone on the way there, though considering how early it was she wasn't surprised.

When Blake eventually got back, Jaune had already taken his shower and was standing in the middle of the room, his hair looking damp. He was still topless, trying to wrap some fresh bandages around his injuries and now Blake could finally see the full extent of the damage to his body...

All that blue and black, all that awful, dark, discolored skin showing each individual area wherein lied severe contusions to his delicate, perfect skin. She hated it. She hated seeing it. She wanted to kick Cardin's teeth in for doing this to him, she wanted to find him and... _'Calm down Blake... calm down. That won't solve anything...'_ her mind soothed her, and Blake took a deep breath. "Do you need some help with that?" She asked gently, and Jaune nodded immediately.

"Oh God, yes please, I've been trying for like fifteen minutes now! I think I actually punched myself once, or something at least, it hurt like hell!" Blake shook her head and giggled softly.

"The nurse told me to keep you safe from harm, how am I supposed to do that if you're a detriment to yourself?" Jaune bit his lip, holding back the urge to spit back some kind of witty retort.

"You know, I honestly have no idea. You should probably just lock me up and throw away the key, tie me up so I can't hurt myself as well!" Blake's giggle returned as a chuckle.

"Maybe I will, then, if it's for your own safety."

It felt nice to be able to talk like this with someone. She wouldn't push her luck and say something completely outrageous, but still Blake thought it was relieving to not have to watch every word she said or just stay quiet all the time. She could talk to Jaune like she saw other humans talk to each other. It was nice.

Jaune offered her a roll of fresh bandages and Blake took it without hesitation. She had done thing like this before at the orphanage, both to herself and others. The beatings back there were common enough for everyone who didn't want to break every bone in their body to learn how to bind bandages and make makeshift casts and splints. "Tell me if it hurts." Blake mumbled as she tried to focus on making sure the bandage was sitting on the right place while not looking at the dark, discolored skin of Jaune's injuries. They just made her feel guilty.

She began to carefully tighten the long white strip of medical cloth around Jaune's torso, and Jaune himself gritted his teeth but stayed silent. He could take pain like this, and he didn't want to worry Blake by vocalizing his discomfort. He felt a little awkward standing half naked in front of her and having her touch him all over his chest, but considering they would be living together he supposed they would both have to get used to it at some point or another. Though maybe not so much the touching part...

A sigh of relief left his lips as Blake finished tightening the bandages and she helped him put on a shirt. "Thanks, Blake. I owe you one."

 _'No you don't. You've already done enough for me to owe you more than I could possibly repay..._ ' Blake thought as she continued to try and not think about Jaune's injuries. "Don't mention it." _'Seriously, don't.'_ Jaune did a few stretches, making sure his bandages fit snugly and securely to his body and smiled widely.

"Well, it still hurts a little bit, but I think there's no way to avoid that. It will for a while. So what did you get for breakfast?" Blake was grateful for the change in subject, and the next few moments were spent eating in silence once again, just like they had done the day before. Blake thought she could very much get used to these silent, happy mornings where the both of them just existed and did their own things. She looked forward to more of them as they finished off their meals.

"Well, it's time for class..." she wasn't exactly too excited about starting classes again, wanting to do nothing but stay with Jaune and read, but she knew she had a duty to herself to attend classes, she had a duty to receive an actual education. College wasn't cheap, and she wasn't going to be putting herself in massive debt for no reason.

"Yeah, what's your first class? I never really noticed you before, I'm sorry to say," Jaune said apologetically.

"Ms Goodwitch's, and I don't blame you. I try to not be noticed." Blake watched as Jaune's eyes widened and then how a smile stretched across his lips.

"I've got Ms Goodwitch's class too. I guess our schedules aren't so different." He said with a happy tone, grabbing his noteblock and his textbooks, Blake doing the same with her own.

"Yeah, guess not." _'And thank god for that...'_ she thought as they made their way towards their first class, Blake staying close to Jaune so she didn't feel as nervous when they were forced to join the throngs of other students.

Their first class with Ms Goodwitch was their longest one of the day, clocking in at two hours and 45 minutes, and Blake could say without a doubt it was her favorite lesson. Everyone were either too focused on taking notes or not falling asleep to notice her, and now that she had Jaune with her things might feel even better.

Jaune seemed to have a seat in mind already, and didn't seem surprised in the slightest when Blake took the spot right next to him. She placed all of her stuff in front of her, laid out and organized how she liked it, while Jaune's stuff was thrown haphazardly in a mess of office supplies. He lived so clean, and organized, like her, but every other time he was really messy, she noticed. It was almost funny, in a way.

Class began, and she could instantly feel the confidence boost she gained from sitting next to Jaune. Maybe he wasn't just her friend, but her lucky charm as well, because she took more notes than she ever had before, and her handwriting was definitely cleaner.

Her wording was more articulate, easier to understand. She had high hopes for this lesson. Such high hopes in fact, that she was sitting up straight...

She realized her better posture immediately, and felt the urge to sink back down so no one could see her, but she knew it was already too late. She could feel a familiar set of yes glaring at her from some distance away.

"Cardin..." she heard Jaune growl from his seat next to her, apparently having noticed the boy glaring at them too. "Ignore him, he's not going to do anything to you as long as I'm around, I promise." Blake just nodded meekly and shrank down next him, hoping it would make her just a tiny bit harder to spot, scooting her chair a little closer to Jaune's and moving her noteblock closer to the edge of her bench. She didn't know who the person sitting on her Jaune-less side was, but the looks he sent her, especially those at her ears, made it clear he wasn't fond of faunus either. So she stayed close to Jaune, using his calming presence to its fullest as her mind began working at light-speed.

 _'He's going to kill me... Cardin's going to kill me and then Jaune... or he's going to do something worse to me and then kill Jaune… I don't want Jaune to die... everyone here hates me, I can feel it. I can see how they're looking. They all want me to die. Cardin's still looking at me-'_

Her thoughts were cut off and her incredibly tense body jolted slightly as she felt something close around one of her hands. Something soft. Something that made warmth flow from it into her body. Something that helped her calm down. "It's okay, Blake. Just relax. He's not going to do anything." Jaune whispered to her gently.

His hand calmed her thoughts as he began to rub the back of it with his thumb, and she managed to focus back onto Goodwitch as she slapped her riding crop onto the chalkboard. Why she even had such a thing was beyond Blake, though if she really thought about it, their teacher could have been a dominatrix. The thought was really somewhat amusing, and it made Blake feel a bit better. She went back to scribbling notes, and slowly but surely her posture changed once again, but this time she leaned more into Jaune. He didn't seem to mind at all.

As class wore on, her intelligent writing came to a stop, and she was starting to have to fight against herself to stay awake. The one thing she learned rather quickly about Jaune was that he was a very comfy substitute for a pillow, and it was hard not to just lean on him and... fall... asleep...

 **SLAP!** Blake rose with a start, her eyes wide open, hoping beyond hope that Goodwitch hadn't noticed. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that it was another girl who had apparently fallen asleep. The girl was rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, and Jaune was trying, and failing, to hold back his quiet laughter. Did he know her? She was short, had dark hair with red highlights, and looked out of place in the outfits they were given.

"Ms Ruby Rose, I expect that this will not happen again?" Blake's ears perked up, and she got a better look at the girl. Ruby Rose, apparently a kid genius. And, more importantly, to her at least, Jaune's friend. She certainly didn't look like a genius, but if she was here at such a young age, then surely she must be. But falling asleep in class...?

 _'Okay wow, Blake, hypocritical much?'_ Her mind chided her.

She caught Jaune chuckling even harder, albeit still quietly, at her side from the corner of her eye. Apparently this was a regular occurrence? She couldn't recall hearing about this Ruby girl falling asleep Before, but then again, Blake never really focused on anything other than the teacher.

"Of course not, Ms Goodwitch!" Ruby yelled frantically and Blake could see Jaune trying to hold in his laughter lest he got a brunt of their teacher's wrath too. She didn't like that. She liked hearing him laugh. It was nice.

Soon enough, class was back in session, though Blake's notes began getting shorter and shorter as she rested her shoulder again Jaune. He was still warm. It was nice. She felt comfortable with him by her side. Even Cardin's hateful glares didn't make her want to shrink down as much. Not with Jaune at her side. Not with him letting warmth flow into her through their still joined hands hand.

After a while, Blake was hardly even listening to Ms Goodwitch's lecture anymore, just writing down whatever she heard mechanically, not taking in any of the information. She was more focused on Jaune. And how nice it felt sitting this close to him, even if it meant she only used a quarter of her bench space.

Maybe it was just how much sleep she got last night, which admittedly was pretty small even by her standards thanks to the insomnia, but she felt herself drifting off again until Jaune gently shook her off his shoulder, making her jump up in surprise.

"Huh? Wh-what?" She looked around frantically, though still as subtly as she could to not get noticed, to see other students getting up and grabbing their things, and she blushed bright red. "D-did I fall asleep?" She looked at Jaune who was just grinning down at her with an amused expression on his face.

"Only for a bit, don't worry, I'll help you catch up later." She nodded her head and wiped at her eyes, trying her hardest to wipe the sleep out of her system. She couldn't afford to do that again, she would have to make sure to keep a bit of distance between her and Jaune at least. He was just too damn comfortable for his own good.

Or maybe she was just too damn sleepy and comfortable and felt too safe around him.

She got up with Jaune, and slowly gathered her things while Jaune waited for her. It really was that she just wanted to stall a bit. She always liked to be the last to leave class, because people didn't wait to mess with her, afraid they were going to be late. But this time it seemed at least one person besides Jaune stayed behind too.

"Jaune! You wouldn't' believe it, but I heard the strangest, funniest thing just a minute ago from Yang! Some blond guy was laughing at me for falling asleep in class!" Came the playfully angry voice of one Ruby Rose, and Blake shrunk down behind Jaune slightly as the girl approached him. "It doesn't do good to laugh at people you know, especially when their sister has pictures of them sleeping in a few classes that most of the professors here would be particularly interested in seeing!"

Jaune smirked at his younger friend as he, Blake, and Ruby made their way out of the classroom, Blake staying close to his side to support him while they walked. They only had this one, long class in the morning before they could go and eat lunch, but their lunch break was quite long, so Jaune was in no hurry. "Sure, I've fallen asleep in class, but at least I make sure I don't get caught."

Ruby glared up at him, pouting cutely before sticking out her tongue at him. "It's not my fault, I couldn't sleep last night! Weiss forced me to stay up and _study_!" She said the word study as if it was a curse word and Jaune couldn't help but laugh again at her. Just how Ruby could be so smart yet hate studying so much he had no idea.

"At least you got a roommate you already know, that's good, right?" Ruby seemed to deflate at his words and her shoulders slumped.

"I guess, but she's so bossy! I need my beauty sleep, Jaune!"

As they walked towards the cafeteria, neither Jaune nor Ruby noticed the shadow sneaking up to them from behind, only Blake heard the sneaking footsteps getting closer and closer, and when it became apparent just where the footsteps were heading her body tensed up and she pushed herself a little closer to Jaune, preparing to make a run for it.

"Jaune-y~! I didn't see you all day yesterday!" Came the boisterous voice of Yang Xiao Long, and Jaune and Ruby jumped slightly as the blonde's arms hooked around their necks, and Jaune had to fight back a groan of pain as his ribs began screaming in protest from the way he was forced to bend down to accommodate the extra Yang's worth of weight.

"Not really my fault," he groaned out. "I kind of got my ass kicked by Cardin." Yang winced, and let go of him immediately.

"Oh boy, how bad was it?" She ignored Ruby's pleas to be let go of too and her arm stayed around her little sister's neck as she fought against Yang's far superior strength. Blake would have found the display kind of funny, she was sure, if she had any siblings or not been raised to fear these kinds of _attacks_ since they most likely ended up in broken necks when it came to faunus. So, as it was, all she saw was an injury waiting to happen.

In the end, Ruby just gave up and started moping while hanging in her sister's grasp..

"Bad enough, I had to stay in my dorm all day. Speaking of, who's your roommate?"

"RIGHT HEEEEEEERE~!" Blake jumped in fear from the extremely loud, obnoxiously cute voice that seemed to boom out around them, preparing once again to just run away, but Jaune gently squeezing her hand made her stop. A girl dressed in an admittedly adorable pink dress slid into their view, Jaune's eyes widening and for the briefest of moments and Blake could sense the fear radiating through him. It was clear to her that these two should never, ever, _ever_ be left alone together.

"Oh...!" Jaune started, clearly alarmed beyond what Blake thought was possible, making her feel afraid too by proxy. "Nora! That's uh..."

"Your worst nightmare, right?" Yang said, leaning in with a shit eating grin.

Jaune knew lying was pointless, so he didn't even try. "Yeah... pretty much..." a shudder passed through his body, one that Blake felt, making her feel even more uncomfortable. She didn't know these people and she didn't want to draw attention to her. They were unknowns.

Nora scooted up next to Yang and threw her arm around the blonde's shoulders, Yang doing the same to Nora, and they both smiled brightly at Jaune, Ruby still hanging limply from Yang's Nora-free arm. "Don't worry, Jaune-y. Me and Nora won't do anything crazy. Right, Nora?"

Nora nodded happily. Jaune didn't believe either of them for a second. "Sure... you're both as innocent and peaceful as a pair of flowers..."

Yang's grin only became wider as she leaned towards Jaune, getting right up in his face. "Aren't you a charmer, Jaune-y. I'm flattered you'd call me a flower~." Blake didn't like how Jaune tensed up at Yang's words. She didn't like any of this. Too many things were happening at once and she just wanted to run away and hide until things calmed down. "And shame on you, for not introducing us to this cutie of a roommate you got yourself!" Blake felt that that was the last straw, it was the first time they had even mentioned her but she didn't want to be here, she didn't want to deal with this, she just wanted to stay by Jaune and be comfortable and happy.

"O-oh well uh..." Jaune grabbed Blake's hand again, gripping tighter than ever, though not enough to hurt her, and she honestly felt like a little girl, hiding behind her big brother's back because she was afraid. That's what it looked like too, but she didn't care. Yang seemed to notice her shyness and backed away immediately. "This is Blake, but she isn't really up for talking right now. She didn't get a lot of sleep, you know how it is." Yang nodded her head absentmindedly and turned her attention fully to Ruby, letting her go as the younger girl took a big gasp of air.

Then, suddenly, more people happened, causing Blake to freeze completely still at the somewhat shrill, and unfortunately familiar voice. "Ruby what are you doing, we're going to miss our chance at all the good stuff!"

Blake shrank down even more, her ears flattening against her head, and she tried to focus all her attention on Jaune. Jaune was at her side, Jaune was holding her hand, Jaune was warm. Jaune was safe. Jaune wasn't Weiss Schnee. Jaune didn't hate faunus. Jaune was safe. "Come on, Weiss! Take it easy, it's not like all the food will be gone just because we don't run to the cafeteria." Ruby's voice confirmed Blake's fears. Weiss Schnee was here.

Jaune could _feel_ Blake's discomfort from a mile away as she pushed against him hard enough to cause his tender ribs to ache slightly, seemingly trying to hide _within_ his body somehow, and he knew this would not end well if things continued like this, especially if something happened with Weiss.

"Hush! I wasn't the one who had the _gall_ to fall asleep during class. Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is? Do you _want_ to be expelled?"

"Of course I don't, but you know the other professors here don't care about that! It's just that Goodwitch is a bit more... strict than everyone else is." Weiss didn't reply, instead her eyes softened just slightly and she shook her head.

"Ruby' you really are a genius..." and then her voice went right back to its original harsh tone, "But you're still such a child!"

"W-well yeah... I am. I'm fifteen. Which, you know, legally makes me a child..." Weiss seemed slightly embarrassed at her retort, but didn't signify it with a response, mostly because she didn't want to embarrass herself further. Ruby's logic was infallible most of the time, and she had a hard time being witty when she spoke to her. Not only that, but as much as she hated to admit it, Ruby was smarter than her a lot of the time, despite her childishness.

"Whatever, it's fine I guess. Just... you know, try not to do it again. At least today?" Weiss seemed to take on a tone that Blake had never heard her take before. Could this be the Weiss Schnee that Jaune knew? Her voice grew gentle almost, and Blake's ears rose just slightly, but she was still very much considering running. "Now let's go get something to eat? I'm starving, and Pyrrha and Ren are waiting for us."

Weiss' eyes met Blake's for the smallest of moments, and Blake felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. What she expected to see in them... wasn't there.

There was no… pure malice in her gaze. It wasn't soft or caring, like Jaune's, but it wasn't hateful like Cardin's either. But this was Weiss Schnee, shouldn't she be looking with pure disgust at her? Didn't she hate faunus just as much as her father did? Had Blake been wrong about her?

"Jaune," Weiss began, her tone becoming more neutral when she stopped speaking to Ruby, "Who's your friend? And why are you leaning on her like that?" Blake shrank down a little further, if that was even possible, and she tried to hide away from the questioning gaze of the Schnee heiress. She did like hearing someone refer to her as Jaune's friend, but she still felt more uncomfortable than ever.

"This is Blake, she's my roommate. And I took a beating two days ago, so she's helping me walk." Weiss' eyes widened slightly at that.

"You got a female roommate?" She asked curtly, crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes still locked with Jaune as Blake tried to hide behind him while still letting him use her as support.

"Yeah, not sure what the Headmaster was thinking, but I guess we'll just have to live with it." Jaune really wanted to end this conversation and head off to a secluded corner so Blake could calm down, at this point he was honestly afraid she would start hyperventilating or simply run away to some place where he would never find her.

Weiss sniffed slightly, casting a glance at Blake's almost hidden ears. "She's a faunus. Even if Beacon is still a progressive school, faunus will still get lumped together with whoever. My guess is there was some sort of plan with the room assignments and she turned out to be one of the leftovers." Her gaze turned back to Jaune, whose eyes turned colder at the way Weiss had referred to Blake as _leftovers_. "Just don't perv on her."

Jaune nodded curtly, though he was slightly disappointed in Weiss. He knew she came from a home where faunus were treated no better than slaves and that she had an image of just another faunus hater her father forced her to uphold, but he had seen what was under that guise. He knew Weiss didn't _hate_ faunus. Distrusting, sure, and for good reason in her case, but she didn't hate them.

"Wouldn't think of it," he said, and Weiss smiled slightly and nodded, taking Ruby by her wrist and leading her to the lunchroom with little resistance. Nora excitedly pulled Yang away, chanting something about pizza, leaving Blake and Jaune alone at last. Blake grabbed onto his arm, and he decided that a little break was necessary before they continued on. "Blake, help me sit down." She helped him lean against the wall without hesitation, and she sunk down to the floor with him. She seemed to be more relaxed, as her ears were no longer flat against her head, and her posture was no longer that of timidity and fear. "She doesn't hate the faunus, Blake. She'd never hurt you, but she'd probably annoy you. There are some things that are programmed into your head, and it's very hard to get those things out, but she is trying."

"Yeah, I can tolerate her, maybe, given enough time to get used to all the noise. Your friends are very... loud. I really don't like it." Jaune knew she was just being honest, but a part of him felt sad. He knew Blake wouldn't try and befriend them based on the story of her past she had given him, but maybe he would get lucky and she would find one friend among his little group to hang out with. It can't just be him all the time, after all. She'd get bored of him. And then he'd feel terribly sad.

"Yeah, they are, though they're still really nice people. Well, there are still some for you to meet, I'm really sorry that that's an inevitability. I know you don't handle social situations well now, and I won't put you through something like that again. I promise."

Blake nodded and tightened her grip on his hand slightly. "I believe you... can we just... sit here for moment? I'm not hungry." That was a lie, she was very hungry, starving even, but she didn't want to go and join the others yet. She wanted to be alone with Jaune a little while longer.

"Of course, there's no rush." Blake relaxed slightly at that, leaning against Jaune's side, forgetting about the injuries hiding beneath his shirt for a moment. "We can take all the time you want."

"Thank you..." she whispered as she closed her eyes and just focused on Jaune's warmth. It was just them, sitting against the wall, no one else was there. It was nice. She wouldn't fall asleep again, that much Blake knew, but sitting down and leaning against Jaune still felt relaxing. Safe.

Students passed by them in the hall in front of them, but Blake ignored it all. She just focused on Jaune. focused on his calming, comforting warmth. If she had been able to, Blake would have stayed like this forever. But she couldn't, Jaune needed food. Her extra sensitive hearing could pick up how his stomach rumbled quietly, even if Jaune himself stayed silent as they sat there.

"We can go eat now..." she said softly, standing up and offering Jaune her hand. He gladly took it, and they made their way to where they knew a heaven of deliciousness awaited. Blake looked around, and spotted their destination immediately. A large table, a perfect fit for eight, at which sat six people who she knew she would have to get used to. They were Jaune's friends after all, even if they did make her uncomfortable, and she was just a faunus in the end. It didn't matter if she didn't want to spend time with them, if Jaune wanted to see them she would follow him, mostly out of a sense of duty since he got hurt for her and needed help walking around, but also because she wanted to stay with his warmth.

Blake took a step towards the big table, but then, suddenly, Jaune urged them to turn to the opposite direction of said table, and she saw something that made her feel a slight bit better.

They weren't sitting with Ruby, and Yang, and the others, apparently. They were going to sit at a table that was mostly empty, aside from three people. A girl and a boy, both of whom were clearly faunus, a monkey and rabbit from according to Blake's nose, along with a rather fashionable girl with a pair of expensive looking sunglasses who seemed to be listening to the rabbit faunus talk with rapt attention. Blake could tell this table would be fine for her, or at least far better. No judgment here over who she was, hopefully. That, and everyone present seemed to exude a calming aura, which she noticed as they got closer to the table, much like Jaune, though it certainly wasn't as strong.

The two of them sat down across from the other three, and Jaune was immediately greeted with gusto. "Yo, Jaune, dude what's up? Man, I heard you got SLAMMED the other day!" Said the blonde monkey faunus who Blake could only guess was Sun Wukong. If the banana and tail were of any indication.

"Sun, you be quiet! You're not hurt too badly, are you, Jaune?" Asked the rabbit faunus, whom she assumed was the one named Velvet Scarlatina, with absolutely sincere worry. Blake couldn't help but hear the diffidence in her voice when she was speaking to Jaune rather than Sun. "I know how bad people can hurt someone..." she rubbed at her ears slightly and winced, and Blake understood all the struggles that this poor girl had gone through in an instant.

"Do I need to kick his ass again?" Asked the girl in sunglasses, her tone deadly serious.

Jaune waved their concern off, like he usually did when it came to things like this. "Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just a couple of bruises, they will heal in no time." He said with a small, though slightly forced chuckle.

 _'And almost broken ribs... and internal bleeding... all because of you…'_ Blake's mind chimed in, making Blake herself feel like a pit had opened in her stomach. She hated that it was her fault Jaune had gotten hurt, even if he waved it off like the injuries didn't mean anything.

The girl Blake presumed was Coco lowered her sunglasses a little to send Jaune a look over their rim, her sparkling, brown eyes holding oceans of doubt. "Really, Jaune? Is needing a helper to walk you around because of some 'bruises' an Arc specialty or something? And who the hell did this to you and why did they do it in the first place? Though, I don't really care what you say, I'm going to kill them either way!" Coco's voice held fire Blake wasn't used to hearing, at least not fire not directed at her.

She sent Jaune a glance and felt nervousness erupt in the pit of her stomach, despite still being near him. Would Jaune really lie to his friends for her? If so, why would he do it? He was nice, and caring, but Jaune had known these people far longer than he had known her, so why would he throw himself under the bus instead of her, a lowly faunus?

"Please calm down, Coco, you don't need to kick anyones ass. I just mouthed off against Cardin after he insulted my sisters and he beat me up, there's not much more too it. And it's not as bad as it looks, I promise." Blake's eyes widened and she tried to resist the urge to stare at Jaune.

Not only had he protected her, but now he downplayed it? Had this been someone else, Blake had no doubts that person would have sold her out within seconds, telling everyone whose fault it was he got beaten up in the first place. Making her take all the blame, and beatings. But he didn't. He protected her even further.

Blake looked down at the table and decided that for the next ten or fifteen minutes she would just think about how incredibly lucky she was to find Jaune and somehow get him in her life while Jaune and the others made conversation. She inhaled deeply and let out a slightly calming breath. This table was good. It wasn't crowded, it was predominantly faunus occupied, and the only two humans here were very obviously not racist and good people. It didn't mean she would let her guard down, but Blake could ease up just a little bit with Jaune sitting by her.

"I-if you don't mind me asking Jaune, d-do you think I can take a picture of your bruises? You know? For uh, for blackmail?" Everyone present sent Velvet a look, sans Blake, and the bunny faunus withdrew even further into her shell. "I was just thinking that maybe it would be useful if... never mind..." Velvet blushed and everyone laughed. It was a nice thing to see, humans and faunus interacting so easily and happily.

"Sorry, Vel, I don't think pictures are gonna help here. Cardin was already punished after all." Jaune explained to her, and she smiled and nodded, quietly going back to her food. Blake wondered why it was that she was so quiet. She knew why, she was a faunus after all, but she didn't know _why_. There was always a bigger reason, more often than not linked to violence.

After a short while of thinking about what Velvet could have gone through compared to herself, Blake felt her stomach grumble, and she looked to Jaune and pulled at the hem of his shirt to get his attention.

"Huh? What is it Blake?" He asked, turning to address her. Thankfully, everyone else minded their own business as she pointed subtly towards where the buffeé was set up. "Oh right, food... I'll go get us some. You don't mind right?" She shook her head, not really feeling up for battling against the crowd of students still attacking the food. She would gladly stay right where she was if Jaune was feeling up for getting it. "Cox, do you think you can give me a hand here?" Coco looked up from her nails, and smiled.

"Sure Blondie, let's go." She got up and walked to Jaune's side, and Blake felt a small amount of jealousy erupt within her but she squashed it down. Of course he couldn't do it himself, he was still hurting. He was doing it so she didn't have to deal with all the other students.

So there she sat with two other faunus, one of whom didn't seem to want to talk at all at the moment while the other one was giving her a shining smile. Blake didn't like that smile. It wasn't nice. "So, the name's Sun Wukong and this here Velvet. From how you're hanging out with Jaune I assume you're his new roommate, though I haven't yet caught your name..." Blake was surprised at Sun's apparent deduction skills, having understood so much from her just sitting next to Jaune. Or he was just guessing. And from the way he was smiling, Blake felt it was more probable that the second alternative was the more truthful one.

Knowing that if Jaune was friends with them they couldn't be that bad, Blake spoke up, albeit quietly. "My name is Blake Belladonna." It wasn't as if she believed Sun would assault her right then and there, though faunus beating one another was certainly just as common as a human beating a faunus, but Blake still felt it was awkward having to speak up at all. Before Jaune she never really spoke with anyone unless she was forced to, so having to do it with complete strangers felt incredibly uncomfortable for the ravenette.

"Blake Belladonna huh? It's fitting. A pretty name for a very pretty girl~..." Sun said with a wink and another smile, and Blake felt like she wanted to crawl into her own skin like a turtle into its shell. She didn't like how Sun smiled at her, it made her feel uneasy and reminded her of all the false smiles the people who had wanted to use her had given her back at the orphanage. It wasn't at all like Jaune's smile.

"S-Sun!" Velvet stammered from his side, her complexion looking far more red than it had Before. It seemed like she didn't enjoy Sun's blatant flirting either, and Blake suspected she would come to enjoy being around Velvet far more than she would being around Sun. "D-don't say things l-like that!" Sun merely gave the flustered girl a look before turning his attention back to Blake, unfortunately.

"What? I'm just telling 'em as I see 'em." Another wink from the monkey faunus and Blake wanted to leave. She wanted to run back to her room and wait for Jaune.

"Sun, you stop that right now or I'll publicly castrate you with a spoon right here and now!" Blake felt both immense relief and hunger as Jaune and Coco returned with two plates equally full of various assortments of food, Coco sitting down next to Sun and giving him a look that made the blond audibly swallow. Jaune sat down next to her and Blake fought the urge to press herself against his side to escape everyone's attention. Instead, she looked at the food he had brought back and a wave of unease flowed through her.

The plates were both big and Blake figured Jaune must have forgotten to bring her back anything. He wouldn't bring back this big of a plate for her after all. Right?

He sat the plate down in front of her, starting to dig into his own food without hesitation, and Blake stared slightly open mouthed at the rather large assortment of food. If there was anything she wasn't used to it was eating more than the bare minimum of what she needed. She wasn't really a strong person, and that could easily be traced back to what she had eaten at the orphanage, and what she had had to eat to save money. Sure, she was fast thanks to having to run away from potential beatings, but she didn't even have the leg muscles someone with a proper diet would have. The mountain of food was new to her. She caught Jaune giving her a look, gesturing towards the food in a 'Go ahead' gesture, and Blake tentatively took her fork, carefully checking that no one at the table was becoming angry as she reached for the big plate of food.

She picked up a random bit of what she guessed was grilled chicken on her fork and stuck it in her mouth. No one at the table got angry at her. She wasn't sure what Jaune was thinking, there was no way she could eat most of this. Maybe a quarter of it at most. That would be pretty much the same amount as the rations she was used to.

Light conversation started up, and Sun moved to a different table after a short while, making Blake breathe a little easier than before as she ate, finishing her planned quarter quickly. When she looked towards Jaune, however, he just gestured for her to go ahead once again, and Blake started eating again.

Once Sun had left, Velvet too seemed a little bit happier and less shy. Something told Blake Sun constantly flirted with her as well.

When Blake had surprisingly finished all of her food, feeling more full and content than she could ever remember, she knew it was time for class. Velvet and Coco stood up from the table and left with a pair of happy goodbyes, and Blake watched them walk off, Velvet clinging to Coco like she herself had clinged to Jaune earlier. The thought made her giggle a little. Maybe she and Velvet really were more alike than she previously thought.

Her thoughts, sadly, turned more dark after that. Blake didn't share any more classes with Jaune today. She would have to try and get back into her old routine and just hope no one noticed her, a jarring transition after, even if it had only been two and a half days, becoming used to having Jaune around to calm her. Blake wasn't sure she liked that thought. Sure, being around Jaune felt amazing and she didn't want to leave his side if she didn't have to, but she still _could_. Right? She hadn't become dependant on him after such a short amount of time just because he treated her better than she could have ever hoped for. Right? She had grown up fending for herself, so just because she had been exposed to something other than hatred, beatings, and being looked down upon didn't mean she was addicted to it...

 _Right...?_

Blake decided she would think about this more later as she stood up from her and Jaune's table and helped him get up as well. She could manage a few classes without having to rely on Jaune being at her side, it was just a matter of finding the right mindset again... even if adopting said mindset was like moving from a comfortable, warm bed into a frozen lake filled with ice-piranhas... a quiet sigh escaped Blake's lips as she placed her and Jaune's plates down at the dishwashing station and for once she was thankful Jaune didn't try to ask her what was wrong.

Together, they made their way to Jaune's next class, Blake insisting on helping him get there despite knowing that it would mean she would be a few minutes late to her own class. Though she didn't tell him that. She just wanted to look out for him, it had nothing to do with her not wanting to leave his side. Or at least that was what Blake told herself as she headed towards her own classroom.

 **Maxaro: Based on the reviews on the last chapter I think I'm going to stick to a mixed style. There will be introspection, quite a lot of it in fact, but only when it serves a purpose. Please review more, though this time I'd love to see something different; I know where I want this story to go, but I'd love to hear some suggestions from you all for what you guys would want to read?**

 **Lastly, I have a little challenge for you, my dear readers; if you can guess how many times the word _nice_ is used in this chapter I'd be willing to write you a short one-shot. First person to leave a review with the correct number is the winner!**

 **Next chapter: Blake dealing with being alone again and more information about her past...**


	4. Omake 1: Rescue

**Rescue**

 **Maxaro: You know, I told you guys a while back that this story wouldn't go on hiatus long, that it would be back as soon as I was feeling better. I honestly believed I could keep that promise, I wouldn't have made it otherwise, but evidently I couldn't. Looking back over this story, mine and Lone's most popular story that we've written, I can't help but ask just why it is popular in the first place. I wouldn't say me and Lone have exactly been pandering in this story.**

 **I've grown a lot as a writer over the past year, just looking at _Mine_ and _In the warden's clutches_ is evidence of that, and I find it interesting to look back on it. When I started off writing seriously on July 5th 2015 I could hardly throw together 500 words, but now I've written an entire 19k word story all on my own. Thanks to Lone, I've become popular on this site, something I never thought I'd be when I first started writing, and I sincerely thank each and every one of our readers for this. Writing has become a large part of _me_ now, and it's all thanks to Lone and you all that I've been allowed to grow into a far more creative person than I ever thought I was even possible of becoming.**

 **Sadly, this is not chapter 4 of Attachment issues. It's an omake I've been putting together for a little over a week now because I just feel awful for not being able to fulfill my promise to you, our readers. Deep down I know I don't exactly "owe" you guys anything, neither me nor Lone are making money off of this after all, but still making you wait almost keeps me up at night. It still stresses me out, even if I wish it wouldn't. I'm still not what most people would call "okay", but I'm getting there, I think.**

 **Sorry for dumping all this personal drama on you guys, but I wanted to get it out there. For anyone still reading this story, I thank you, _we_ thank you. Sincerely. Please enjoy this omake that came to me after watching abandoned animals getting rescued. It, quite clearly, takes place in an AU.**

The small frame of the raven haired cat Faunus shook violently as terror and freight continued to course relentlessly throughout her entire body. For close to two hours now, a strange, unfamiliar human had been walking around the junkyard she regretfully had learned to call _home_ , and he'd yet to show any signs of leaving.

The cat Faunus hated humans. All of them. They were the ones who'd thrown her out, who'd beaten her, who'd starved her to the brink of death, who'd toyed with her like she wasn't another living being just like them. The human walking around the junkyard was no different. They were all the same, that's why she hated them all.

The sound of a piece of scrapmetal falling down from one of the many piles of waste that made up the junkyard made the cat Faunus jump even as she curled even further into a ball, her eyes shutting close as hard as she could, hoping and praying that should the human notice her he would just mistake her as another piece of trash. A pile of of garbage wrapped up in a dull, brown, foul smelling excuse for a blanket that also served as the only clothing she 'owned'. She just wanted to be alone. Being alone was something she could handle, she'd been forced to become used to it after all, but being afraid wasn't. She hated being afraid. Just like she hated humans.

 _'Go away go away go away go away go away go away...'_ the cat Faunus chanted in her head, feebly covering her sensitive, already damaged cat ears with her small hands, hoping it would somehow make her even harder to spot.

She'd just been getting ready to go out on a mission to scavenge some food from the closest dumping site when the human arrived, and as such, the small Faunus was even hungrier than usual. Pain brought from having stayed on the edge of starving for so long gnawed at her insides, but she could hardly even feel it. The terror was too great, it had taken over all of her other senses.

"Here kitty, kitty..." she could hear the human say for what felt like the thousandth time, his voice somehow not having lost its hopeful tone even after two hours of fruitless wandering. The Faunus didn't even know why he was here, what or who it was he was apparently looking for. All she knew was that she wanted him to leave so that she could try and use the last remaining hours of daylight left to hunt down something to eat.

She didn't want to go to sleep on an empty stomach. Again.

Without her noticing it, or giving her body consent to do so, the cat Faunus let out a small, almost unnoticeable whimper of both freight and sadness. The sound was almost silent when she released it, but thanks to the acoustics of the crevice she was hurled up in, it quickly magnified until it could be caught as a tiny squeak by someone walking by.

Which was exactly what happened.

Small, tear filled, almost glowing amber eyes opened wide as the distinct sound of footsteps made their way closer and closer towards her location, and the cat Faunus tried in vain to somehow curl into an even more unnoticeable ball.

It didn't help, though, and within moments, the sound of someone crouching down met her ears and then crack that was her only view of the outside world while inside the crevice was covered by the face of a young, gently smiling boy.

"There you are..." the human whispered quietly as he gazed through the hole where the taillight should be on the decrepit car that served as the cat Faunus' hiding place. He could easily spot the glowing citrine of her slightly luminescent eyes in the pitch blackness of the car's trunk. "I knew Yang wasn't lying when she said she'd seen something living here."

The Faunus whimpered again, even more tears pooling in her eyes.

"Though, I guess I should be saying some _one_ rather than some _thing._ " It seemed like the human was talking to himself rather than to her, and the cat Faunus was slightly thankful for that. She didn't want to try to talk right now. Or ever, really.

 _'GOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAY!'_ She shouted in her head as she shut her eyes again, but she knew it was hopeless now. The human had already spotted her, and she was too hungry and weak to try and outrun him at the moment. All the small, shaking Faunus could do was curl up tighter and hope whatever it was he was planning on doing to her would be swift. After all, she'd learned long ago the things humans were _never_ painless.

"It's okay, girl. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm just going to open the trunk a little so that I can get a better look at you. Please don't run away."

While the human's voice stayed gentle and soft, the cat Faunus was not fooled. This was how they did it, she knew. They acted like they actually cared, like they weren't going to make her suffer, but it was all lies. She hated that about them. They always lied. They were all _false_. All of them.

Bit by bit, more light from the slowly setting sun poured into the trunk of the car the cat Faunus had been hiding in, the boy opening it grunting softly as he took care to not open it too wide or too suddenly. He'd been looking for this girl for too long for him to scare her off now when he'd finally found her.

The first and second thing the boy noticed when he looked down on the cat Faunus was just how small she was, barely the size of a house cat, as well as the lack of any clothing beyond what might have passed for a blanket several years ago. The third was the shaking. Even if he didn't exactly know much about cats or Faunus in general, and even less about girls that weren't his sisters, the boy knew this was basically a massive warning light shining right in his face with the words " _She is fucking terrified"_ being shouted at him by one of those annoying and eardrum shatteringly loud alarms.

From what he could see of the outlines of her small body through the torn blanket, the girl was malnourished to the point of almost being just skin and bones and there seemed to be no part of her that wasn't covered in a thick layer of dirt or grime. For how long she had lived out here in the junkyard the boy had no idea, but even then he couldn't help but think it was a miracle she was alive at all considering just how sickly she looked. Slowly, tentatively, he reached towards the girls shivering form, but before he could even get halfway the Faunus let out a tiny, terrified whine and swatted at the air with her sharp, untended nails, the tears that had gathered in her eyes long ago running down her dirty cheeks as she shut her eyes even tighter.

The sound played with the boy's heartstrings like they were attached to guitar, and he stopped his movements. Whatever had happened to the cat Faunus before he had found her must have been horrible, he figured, and he made a mental note to not get excited about actually finding her before he was sure she had calmed down. If such a feat was actually possible.

Slowly, the boy moved his hand closer to the quivering girl, fighting back the urge to just grab her and hug her tightly when the scared whining from before became louder and louder and her eyes opened to stare at him with seemingly never ending freight reflected within them. Tears were streaming down her face as she tried in vain to back up further into her hiding spot, but her back was already pressed tightly against the wall and the only escape route she had was past the large, terrifying hand coming closer and closer towards her.

Her sharp nails met it head on once it was close enough, her animalistic instincts forcing her to attack it even if she wanted to just submit so whatever was about to happen would be over quicker, but no matter how much she clawed at the hand, it kept coming closer. She could see and smell the blood trickling out from the many small scratch marks on it and the sounds of the boy's pained but soft hisses met her ears, but nothing she did was stopping the hand. It continued to come closer. And closer. And closer. Until...

 _'NONONONONONOGOAWAYGOAWATGOAWAYLEAVEMEALONELEAVEMEALONELEAVEME-!'_

The cat Faunus' terrified thoughts were cut off, as were the frantic movements of her arms and legs, when the boy's hand gently touched her hair, the mere act of physical contact sending a jolt of memories into her fragile mind. All of the memories were painful ones, some more than other, and the barrage of them made the girl feel more hopeless and helpless than she had ever felt before. This boy–this _human–_ was going to hurt her, play with her, just like everyone else, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The boy could now feel how the small Faunus girl was shaking in terror, the trembling coursing through his hand and up his arm as he moved his hand upwards ever so carefully, the girl's dirty, matted hair clinging to his fingers as he gently stroked her head, making sure to avoid touching her already rough looking ears. He made no more sudden movements, merely staying still as he ran his hand through the cat Faunus' hair, scraping lightly against her scalp. He knew from the start that this wouldn't be an easy task, that it would take plenty of time, and he was prepared to spend as long as he needed here. The boy was in no rush, he'd told his parents he was going to stay out late with friends, and if it meant that she became less frightened over time, he would spend hours doing nothing but gently petting the small Faunus' head.

As time passed, the boy staying quiet as the girl continued to sob and quake in freight, the reddened light from the setting sun's rays began to dim, until it eventually disappeared completely, being replaced by the far harsher light of the scrapyard's many lamps. It was a slow process in reality, but to the pair it seemed to happen in an instant.

Only once did the boy break the silence that had settled over them, his voice as gentle and careful as his hand when he spoke up.

"You're doing good, girl..."

To the cat Faunus, the slow, careful, and gentle caresses placed on her head felt like torture in itself, not matter what the true intentions of the boy were. Every time she felt his hand land on the top of her head, his fingers parting her dirty, stringy hair as he gently continued to pet her, the girl had to fight back the urge to lash out and bury her fangs deeply in the boy's hand. But she didn't move. Because she knew that if she didn't move, didn't attack, she might come out of this alive. Not unhurt, she never got out unhurt, but at least still alive. The boy would do what they always did to her and then he'd finally leave and she'd finally be able to stop feeling _this_ afraid. It was too late to go out and scavenge for food know, she knew, but at least the fear would abate, if only slightly. As long as humans were around, the girl was never going to be fully able to not be afraid, but she'd learned to live with that. Forced to live with that. And now she could manage it. Sometimes. When humans acted like she predicted they would. Like they _should._

However, right now, this human, the human whose hand was still carefully petting her even as time passed by, wasn't acting like he _should_.

In her admittedly short life, the cat Faunus had never experienced this, not with humans or other Faunus. No human had ever petted her this long, never had they done this carefully either, and they had never ever gone this long without hurting her in some way.

A singular, dimly glowing, citrine eye opened carefully, its twin staying firmly closed, and the owner of the eyes looked wearily around the small compartment she was still curled up tightly in. She could feel the boy pause his hand's movements as she gazed up at him with tears still glimmering within her deep, still brilliant orbs. She wanted him to leave oh so badly. She wanted him to leave her alone so that she may try to sleep in preparation for the challenges tomorrow would present. Her stomach was aching badly, hunger biting at her every second that passed, but she couldn't get food tonight, she would need to get some in the morning instead... if she actually had the energy needed to wake up from her sleep.

 _'Go away...'_ the cat Faunus begged wordlessly, the knowledge of that it was hopeless to try to plead to a human being the only thing keeping her from actually vocalizing the thought. This human would be no different, she was sure of it. He was just an even better liar than most others, she thought bitterly as she closed her eye once more. His own eyes had shown none of the malice or sadistic pleasure she was so used to after all.

Then something happened.

Both of the small cat Faunus' eyes shot wide open as she felt the hand on her head move down to her side, where it was mirrored on the other side of her body not a moment later by the boy's other hand. Then she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

"It's okay, it's okay, girl, I'm just going to move you a little. Everything's going to be okay, don't worry," the girl heard the boy whisper as he slowly pulled her out of her hiding spot, and pure panic quickly seized her heart. This was it. Her time was up. This human was going to do whatever he wanted with her now...

Animal instincts taking over her body, the cat Faunus quickly began to squirm in the boys grasp, both her fangs and claws baring down on his unprotected hands with as much fury as she could manage. The irony taste of blood met her senses as her sharp fangs easily pierced the skin, the red liquid flowing into her mouth as her teeth sunk deeper and deeper into the human's flesh. Her resistance probably meant her death, the Faunus knew, but she hadn't been able to stop her instincts from acting out.

Still, she conceded, it could have been worse. She would probably die violently now, which meant it would most likely be a quick death. And she could also take solace in that the bite on this human's hand would most likely become infected thanks to her general uncleanliness.

The boy's pained grunt met the girl's furled back ears, and she readied herself for whatever was coming next.

However, what did happen was not something she could have ever prepared for. Because she never imagined it as a possibility. Not in a million years.

Biting back any more exclamations of pain, the boy gently hugged the small cat Faunus to his chest, making sure he remained careful even while pain arched throughout his entire arm. He had expected her to bite him, so he wasn't surprised, but what did surprise him was how easily the girl let go of his hand once he held her against his chest. He could feel her body remain as stiff as a steel rod, but no longer was she biting down on his hand.

Rivulets of crimson blood trickled down from where the cat Faunus' tiny maw was still around the lower part of his thumb, but the boy could easily tell that her fangs weren't lodged deep in his flesh anymore. She'd let him go.

"Damn you bite hard. You're a fierce one, aren't you, girl...?" He laughed quietly as slowly backed away from the old car the girl had been hiding in, staying in his crouched down position until his back met with something and he could sit down fully on the rough ground of the junkyard. His hand continued to throb in pain, crimson rivulets of blood running from the deep bite marks, dripping down and staining his trousers red, but the boy continued to refuse to show just how much it hurt. After having come this far, he didn't want to scare the cat Faunus any more. "Everything's going to be okay now, I promise... no one's going to hurt you... never again"

There had been many thoughts coursing through the frightened Faunus' brain when the boy had hugged her, most of them questions and guesses about how she was going to die, but now, when she was in his gentle embrace, there was only one thought left;

 _'Warm...'_

After having lived alone for so long without any real means to maintain heat, she had no proper clothes after all, the small Faunus could hardly even remember what real warmth felt like. Not scorching hot like the charred cigaret buds she'd had forced into her flesh so many times by other humans, and not freezing cold like most nights were in the junkyard. Just the warming, comforting feeling that came from being pressed against another living being. Deep within her mind, in the furthest banks of her memory, the girl was being reminded of something as she felt the soft fabric of the boy's sweater rub against her cheek and side, his own warmth spreading into her frail, still shaking body.

It was a faint, fleeting memory, one without any real images or sounds, only feeling, but still the Faunus knew what, or more accurately _who_ it was she was being reminded of. A person whose name she had never learned. Whose very existence would have been forgotten had it not been for the Faunus herself being here today.

Tear filled citrine eyes once more, running gently down pale, dirty cheeks before dripping down onto a pair of already blood-stained, worn, blue jeans.

The one this human was reminding her of was her mother—a faceless, voiceless, and scentless figure—cradling her, at the time, even smaller, baby form against her chest, her warmth, much like this human's, seeping into the young girl.

She could still taste the boy's blood on her tongue, her mouth hovering over the twin indentations in his hand that her fangs had made, but the Faunus' mouth remained open, shock keeping it so.

In her ears, she could hear a singular, almost thundering sound, but despite the volume of it, the small ravenette couldn't help but feel relaxed by it, especially not after she felt a hand begin to gently run through her messy hair again.

 _ **Ba-bum... ba-bum... ba-bum...**_

A heartbeat. A human's a heartbeat. The heartbeat of a human who was embracing her in a way the Faunus hadn't felt since her mother left her.

"Good girl..." she heard the boy whisper gently, his hand only now being carefully removed from her mouth. Warmth continued to spread throughout her body from where she was hugged against his chest, and, ever so slowly, the small Faunus started feel a new sensation erupt within her. She could still feel fingers running gently across her scalp and through her hair, ones she now knew could only belong to this boy, and after a while, she actually started to lean into the touch, even though she knew it belonged to a human.

The Faunus had no idea what was going on anymore, nothing about what was happening right now _should_ be happening according to her memories, but as she finally gazed up at the human cradling her, eyes still shimmering with tears, she was met with a pair of sapphires more honest than she thought any human could ever own. Within them, she could see no deceit, no lies, no false intentions, and, most shockingly, no malice. Just care. And comfort.

For a moment, she wondered if it was actually a human's eyes she was looking up at.

Together, they sat in silence for some time, the boy letting the small Faunus calm down as much as she could before even saying anything again. The dark of night had settled over them fully now, and with it came a cold that girl had forced to become used to weather, but this night things were different. Far different than anything she could have ever anticipated.

After a while, she could feel the boy's grip on her change a little, the hand that was supporting her against his warm chest moving over her sides and arms before returning to its former place beneath her, and she could watch as the human's expression became more saddened by the second, though for what reason she had no idea.

"How have you survived out here...?" He asked her quietly, his voice somber, making the girl tilt her head as she just become more confused by his question. "You're just skin and bones... we need to fix this..."

Without warning, the cat Faunus felt herself become readjusted again as the boy shifted beneath her, her sharp claws grabbing hold of his shirt instinctively and her body stiffening before she could even figure out what was happening. Yet, even as she noticed the boy getting distracted, she didn't take this chance to run away. He was busy looking for something in his pockets, and his grip on her had never been a strong one, so she now had every opportunity to escape from this human.

But she didn't.

She stayed still, supported by the boy's hand, as he continued to move around. She stayed with his warmth. Along with the comfort his touch provided

"Here we go. I've got something for you," the Faunus heard the boy say after another moment of searching, and surprise forced her eyes to widen as she felt a very distinct smell enter her sensitive nostrils.

The smell of food.

With an expression of utter shock on her dirtied features, the small Faunus watched as the boy pulled out a small plastic bag from one of his jacket's pockets, her senses immediately telling her that it was from this bag that the smell was coming from. How she had failed to notice the very distinct scent of grilled meat before now she wasn't sure, but she didn't have time to question it as the human quickly reached into the bag and produced a wrapped up, paper package with several noticeable, semi-transparent spots on it.

At a rate she never knew was possible, the Faunus felt saliva begin to pool in her mouth and she wanted nothing more than to pounce on the package in the boy's hand and tear it up as fast as possible, ravaging whatever was on the inside of it, the immense hunger aching inside her beating out suspicion.

The boy himself could feel the small girl in his grasp begin to tense up immensely, and he understood that she was going to jump at the cold burger in his grasp any minute now, but he also knew that he couldn't allow that to happen. If this girl was as starved as he thought she was, he knew that it would be dangerous for her to eat too much in one go. She was clearly starving, but that didn't mean the boy was going to risk making her more endangered than she already was.

With nimble fingers, he quickly unwrapped the paper concealing the burger as best he could with just one hand, while at the same time carefully increasing his grip on the small Faunus. When the burger was completely exposed to the air he carefully placed it down on top of the wrapper beside him and broke off a piece of it to feed the girl with.

"Here, eat up..." he said quietly as gave the small Faunus the piece of burger and watched as she quickly devoured the whole thing with gusto as soon as it came within range of her mouth, her fingers remaining clutched to his shirt.

When it was evident she was finished, he gave her another piece of burger, making sure it wasn't too big just like the first one, and the girl ate it just as ravenously as the first one.

So he gave her another. And another. And before the boy knew it, the entire burger had disappeared down the throat of the Faunus, settling in her tummy and providing her with some of the nutrients she so desperately needed, and her body finally felt relaxed as she rested against his chest. Looking down upon her, the boy felt he didn't want to question just how long it had been since she'd eaten this much. Thinking about it would just make him even more angry at the world who had abandoned her like this.

While he was thinking this, however, the Faunus was experiencing a feeling she hadn't been privy to in months. She felt full. Finally, the teeth of hunger were no longer gnawing at her every waking moment, letting a calm settle over her tiny form and making her nuzzle her face into the warm softness of the boy's sweater, the sound of his calming, rhythmic heartbeat meeting both her human and Faunus ears. She couldn't even bring herself to question just what was happening, if this whole situation—with a _human actually having fed her real food—_ was even real or if she had collapsed from exhaustion and lack of nutrition. For once in her life, the small cat Faunus felt content—along with sleepy—and she didn't want to ruin that. If this was all a trap or ruse, then she wanted to enjoy it for as long as it lasted, because she no longer cared about what happened to her. She could die like this.

A soft yawn left her mouth as the boy's hand came down to pet her head again, his fingers still carefully avoiding her scarred ears, and the Faunus didn't hesitate to lean into his touch this time. She was too satisfied and sleepy to be scared anymore. And then she let out something she had never done before.

A purr. A small, quiet purr. A purr of contentment.

 _'Maybe... maybe not all humans are bad... at least not this one... he doesn't feel bad... he's not like the rest of them... he's special...'_ she thought tiredly as she felt the boy's chest rumble slightly as he laughed softly, her eyes closing.

"Let's go home..." he said from above her as he carefully stood up, though the Faunus was hardly even listening to his words. She just focused on the sound of his voice instead. How comforting it sounded. How... _not_ -human it was. She liked it.

The next hour passed like a blur for the Faunus—or at least she thought it was one hour—though through it all she remained in the same spot. Hugged gently against the boy's chest. She was tired enough to almost fall asleep the entire time, but she forced herself to stay just awake enough to register what happened at least to some extent. There was a lot of movement, she knew, but just where she had gone she had no idea, though she didn't care. She was too tired to care.

From the sounds around her, she also knew she'd been in a car for a while, and then there were suddenly other humans around her and the boy. A lot of them too, she figured based on how different they all sounded, all of them seemingly female. But the small Faunus herself stayed against the boy's chest, and one of his hands remained beneath her for the entire time.

There was one word, though, that she heard over and over again until it finally stuck with her; _Jaune._ She wasn't sure what it meant, if it was a name or some foreign language, but something told her she should remember it, that it was important.

She'd also been fed some more food, _real_ food, as well as been made to drink plenty of water— _fresh, clean_ water—though just who it was who'd been feeding her she didn't know. She just hoped it was the boy. She didn't want any other human to feed her. She only trusted him.

The one experience she could recall more vividly than the others, however, was how she'd been bathed. The water had been warm and the hands who'd roamed all over her small body, washing off the several month's worth of dirt, grime, and filth sticking to every inch of her body and her hair had been careful and gentle. This time she was certain it had been the boy tending to her, because whenever she looked up she was met with a mop of gold hair and a pair of deep blue, comforting eyes.

After that it was all a blur once again.

In the end, though, all the small cat Faunus was absolutely sure of was that she was inside, her stomach was filled with food, she'd been washed and dressed, and that the human who hadn't been like the rest was still holding her against him. And he was still warm. A special kind of warm. And she was okay with that. _Happy_ even.

It was how she finally fell asleep, purring softly as his fingers ran through her hair, listening to the heartbeat of a special human.

 **Maxaro: I'm not going to be as stupid as I was last time and put a release date on anything this time, all I'll say is that I _want_ to write the next chapter sometime soon, but that all depends on life not fucking me and Lone over.**

 **Also, please do not mention anything about RWBY volume 4 in any reviews. I've stated many times that I fucking hate canon-RWBY and I just can't fucking deal with that shit right now. If you want my opinion on it, send me a PM and I'll try to give an answer as best I can, but please leave it out of the reviews.**

 **Lastly I want to ask you guys/gals/whatevers something; after looking over the first chapter of this story a couple of times, I honestly feel like it needs either a re-write or at least a fix-up to change the many shifts in tone that it features throughout. Me and Lone were unsure how "leadership" would work on this story, and as such it had little to no direction at the start until we talked about it and I was appointed the helm of command. Would you guys like for us/me to go back and change chapter 1 so that it fits in more with the tone I want this story to keep? I'm posting a poll about it on my profile that I will keep open until... let's say Sunday, yeah? Please note that re-writing it might cause chapter 4 to be pushed back slightly depending on how much editing it actually needs.**

 **Thank you all for your patience. Please leave a review with your thoughts.**


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